


The Campfire is Where We Get Our Warmth

by Plain__Jane



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mentions of Abuse in Later Chapters, Slow Burn I Think?? Idk, Summer Camp, There Wasn’t Even Supposed to be a Second Chapter but look at it now!! Wowie!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 71,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plain__Jane/pseuds/Plain__Jane
Summary: “You missed the shooting star, happened earlier, you were sleeping”“Oh, did you make a wish”“Yes, of course I did”“What’d you wish for”Keith lightly elbowed Lance in the side, he barely felt it.“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true”——————————Summer was a time for relaxing, swimming, hanging out with friends, staying up, and doing dumb things. All things Lance was good at. When his mom suggests that he go work at a summer camp, Lance immediately agrees. A lot can happen when you’re stuck with the same people for three months.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Original Character/ Original Character
Comments: 11
Kudos: 77





	1. Everything has a Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I low key didn’t read this before I posted it but, here, a Voltron fanfic in 2020.

Summertime was Lances favorite season, not only was he out of school for a few months, but having so much free time on his hands gave him time to experience new things and meet new people.

That’s why his mom suggested that he go work for a summer camp in Mooresville Alabama. 

He had never heard of the town but he liked the name, he also liked kids and the outdoors so he thought he would give it a shot.

His dad wasn’t very happy about it but Luis drove him there against his dads protest. 1,060 miles, three and a half days of terrible car karioke, license plate bingo, serious talks and a bundle of stupid jokes later, they ended up in the middle of a forest.

Lance bid his brother goodbye, Luis reached over and slammed the door in his face. After a few minutes he rolled down the window and handed Lance his bags.

“Have fun hermano, don’t get in too much trouble”

“I won’t, see you at the end of the summer Luis”

Lance had gotten lectured on the way down there to be on his best behavior, Luis didn’t want the kids to have a bad role model because Lance was being immature. Even though Lance had promised he wouldn’t misbehave, Luis didn’t believe him.

Lance looked around the campground, five cabins went around the fire pit, one was labeled mess hall, three of them were named after colors, green, red, and blue, and the fifth cabin wasn’t labeled at all. Lance guessed it was the supplies storage or just another cabin that wasn’t in use.

The area around the cabin was beautiful, the trees were full, you could see all sorts of colorful flowers around, from where he was standing you could see the lake, the birds were chirping, squirrels ran along the ground, you could hear the frogs cro-.

“Welcome to camp Altea”

A tall man with an orange mustache popped out of nowhere, causing Lance to yell and jump away in fear. The man’s face visibly saddened as the Cuban tried to catch his breath.

“Sorry my boy, I have the tendency of scaring people, though I’m not sure why, I’m Coran”

“You might not want to scare the kids, try standing at the entrance maybe”

Coran mumbled something about, not having the element of surprise, and how it sounded kind of boring. Lance reassured him that the kids might not appreciate it as much as he did.

“Well, kids theses days have definitely changed from when I was a boy, being surprised was my favorite part of growing up, every morning to wake me up my father would sound tornado sirens around the house just to get me awake and ready for the day, but oh well”

“I’m Lance, I’m here to be a counselor for the summer”

“Good, we need one more counselor and you’re just in time, follow me Lance”

Coran sprinted towards the unlabeled cabin, Lance followed closely behind. His energy levels seemed higher when he was with Coran, the man was very energetic and bubbly, Lance enjoyed seeing people with a personality like his.

They walked into the cabin, bins of supplies were scattered around, some of them had dust while others looked brand new. Coran pulled out a blue shirt that had what looked like a stretched “v”on it, with Camp Altea underneath of it, on the back it said, “Blue Cabin Counselor”. 

Lance grabbed the shirt in one hand and Coran handed him blue handkerchiefs in the other.

“Your campers will wear bandanas for a few days, just so they know who is in their cabin and you know which kids are yours, after the first week or so they won’t have to wear them anymore”

“Thank you Coran”

Coran lead him to the mess hall where the rest of the cabin counselors were, a small gremlin like girl who wore a green shirt and a guy with an orange headband and a yellow shirt were talking at one of the tables, a guy with a white tuff of hair and a pretty girl in pink were laughing at another table, and a boy with a red bandana around his forehead was sul-

Did he have a fucking mullet?

“Do you have a mullet”

He did, he had a mullet. Who the hell has a mullet now a days, was he stuck in the 80s? That has to be the worst fashion chose he’s ever seen from anyone in a long time.

The boy turned around to look at Lance, his purple eyes glared at him, his face was set in a frown, he had a scar on his face, and his black hair made him look kind of pale.

“Yes, I have a mullet”

He stood up, the boy was a few inches taller than Lance, which kind of annoying him, not many people were taller than him.

“Is that a problem”

“No, I just pointed it out, is that crime, mullet”

Mullet man glared at Lance, he chuckled lightly and grabbed the front of Lance shirt.

“It’s Keith, and no it’s not a crime blue, but I’d be careful where you tread”

Keith release Lances shirt and sat back down, the other counselors were staring at them with confused looks on their faces. Lance decided he should sit with gremlin girl and yellow headband at the table where Keith wasn’t sitting. 

He sat opposite of the two on the side closest to the door, he chuckled lightly, he was probably going to be in a lot of trouble this summer with Keith around, who names their kid Keith anyway? A stupid name and a stupid mullet, and his stupid face.

“I’m Pidge and this is Hunk, nice to meet you”

“I’m Lance”

The guy whose name was Hunk, also a strange name, waved, swallowing whatever he was eating before Lance got there.

“You weren’t even here for a minute and you already pissed off Keith, that has to be a record, he seems like a hot head but wow”

“I didn’t even do anything”

Lance threw his hands up, his eyes were wide.

“You insulted his ha-“

“How did I insult him, I pointed out that he had a mullet, if I would have said out loud what I said in my head then that would have been an insult, but without that I didn’t insult him”

Pidge snickered, Lance glared at her.

“He could at least try a little harder to make good choices, but no, he chose a mullet out of every haircut in the world, a fucking mullet”

Hunk grabbed a sandwich from a plate on the table that Lance didn’t notice before now, he waved it around while he talked.

“You’ll probably have to work together as a cabin at some point in the summer so you should probably make amends soon, but besides that, how did you find the place it’s kind of out of place and in an awkward area”

“I’m not sure, my mom told me about it, it sounded like an interesting thing to do and I like kids so, why not give it a shot, how about you, Hunk”

Lance didn’t know if he liked Hunks name much, but Hunk seemed chill.

“My girlfriend, Shay, knows Allura, Allura has talked non stop about the camp for months and she asked Shay to be a counselor but she’s busy this summer, so Shay asked me if I could”

Lance nodded his head, a little bummed about Hunks story, he had hoped it was going to be a little cooler but, doing a favor for your girlfriend is cool too.

“My brother Matt was going to be a counselor instead of me but he was called to go do something for school, he’s going into space, a really big project that could make him famous, his words not mine, so I told him I would do it instead”

That was a little bit more cool, Lance wished he could go to space one day, he enjoyed looking at the stars and watching the different moon phases every night. He even knew a few constellations.

“That’s a little cooler Pidge, sorry Hunk”

“It is cooler”

He sounded disappointed by the fact, Lance chuckled.

“Maybe you should resp-“

“Counselors”

Interrupted Coran.

“Tomorrow is drop off day, we have fifteen hours till the children arrive, and most of that time will be spent sleeping, counselors need to make sure their cabins are spick and span, that you are ready to greet the children when they get here, hand them their bandanas, show them their cabins, and show them around the campsite, then get ready for the first activity of the day by heading to the fire pit, dismis to your cabins”

“I like, just got here, I barely got to mingle with my peeps, and now I have to leave”

“Don’t call me your peep”

Coran appeared beside Lance in a blink of an eye, causing him to jump again.

“We have to wake up bright and early Lance, the children will be arriving soon”

Lance laughed, a little creeped out but still excited.

“Yep, we better head to our cabins, get ready for tomorrow, ha”

He began to walk quickly out of the door towards his cabin, he liked Coran he really did, Coran was just the type of person you had to get to know to understand.

The cabin felt empty, he was ready to share the cabin with someone else and have someone to talk to before he went to sleep.

He sat the bandanas and his shirt on the floor by his bags, grabbing a small bag he headed to the bathroom to start his skin care routine.

After all of masks and soaps where put on and rinsed off his face he ducked into one of the bottom bunks and laid down, flicking the lights off.

He was left to think about the sounds of crickets outside and his family at home.

————————————

Lance can’t say he had the best sleep of his life but he did rest his eyes, and he didn’t have eyebags yet so that was a plus.

Everyone was woken up by an air horn, causing Lance to fall out of his bed at six o’clock in the morning and hit his head on the hardwood.

“Counselors get ready and head to the fire pits in front of the mess hall to greet your campers, they’ll be here any minute so do not dilly dally”

Lance went to the bathroom to wash off his face mask, making sure that the water he used was as cold as it could get. He still felt a little groggy afterwards but a lot more awake than before.

He grabbed his shirt and threw it over his head, realized it was backwards and turned it around the right way. He threw on a pair of shorts and stepped out of the door, realizing that everyone else was already outside and ready for the day.

“Why good morning Lance, you seem ready for the day”

“Good morning to you too Coran, I certainly feel ready”

He fake smiled at Coran, Coran smiled back and patted Lance on his back.

“That’s a good thing my boy, the first camper had arrived”

He watched Coran run to the front of the drop off spot, Lance could see him rock back on his heels, he could only imagine the smile on the bubbly man’s face as the child stepped out of the car.

Keith’s cabin was right next to his, they made eye contact from where they stood.

“What did you need your beauty sleep”

Lance would have responded if a camper didn’t just pull up, he had to make a good first impression.

He watched the girl step out, she had round glasses and short hair that went to her chin, she looked tan with white spots on her face, arms, and legs, she carried a very obvious messenger bag at her side.

As she walked up closer Lance could see that she had freckles. She bounced towards Pidge with a smile on her face, sticking her hand out towards Pidge, Lance overheard the girl say her name was Desma. Pidge smiled as the girl started talking about comic books.

Next came a girl who pulled up in an expensive car, a person in a tuxedo walked out and opened the door for her, he also grabbed her suitcase from the trunk.

The girl walked up to Keith, her blonde hair looked fake and her icy blue eyes looked like they could freeze someone with one mean look. She was wearing a white lace dress with large sunglasses on her head, she had mascara and eyeliner on, and had on expensive looking wedges that were at least six hundred dollar. This girl was rich and spoiled as fuck.

“I’m River Amelia Birkenhead, I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I honestly don’t care”

Well, good luck with that one Keith.

Another car pulled up, this time two kids came out of the car, they looked a lot alike both with brown hair and green eyes. A women that looked like them got out and handed them their bags, she kissed both of their heads and waved goodbye to them as they walked towards Coran.

They both walked towards Lance after talking to Coran, they carried their bags in the same hand and walked in time with each other, their left feet hit the ground at the same time. The boy laughed, Lance could hear it, it reminded him of his brother.

“Hey, I’m Lance, your cabin counselor this summer, and who do I have the honor of being the first campers in cabin blue”

“This is Amber, and I am Anthony”

Amber hit him in the arm, Anthony just laughed.

“I was supposed to introduce myself nerd”

“I got excited Amber, don’t judge me you know how I am”

Lance only now noticed the rainbow flag that was hanging out of Anthony’s bag, like he didn’t care if people saw it or not..

Lance realized he had been staring at the flag, he looked back at Anthony and Amber, Anthony had his eyebrow cocked and Amber was frowning at Lance.

Lance smiled at the kids in front of him handing them their bandanas.

“It’s nice to meet you two”

The kids sat down and began talking on the steps behind him. They talked in quiet hushes but Lance could still hear some of their conversation.

“Do you think mom and dad are getting a divorce because of me”

Oh, that wasn’t Lances business, but he heard it anyway. He remembers the time his parents thought about getting a divorce, it was a scary time.

“So, where are you guys from”

“We’re from Mississippi, but our grandma lives in Alabama, she heard about the camp and told our mom about it, so now we’re here”

Lance nodded his head, he thought that local kids would come to the camp, be he was wrong he was probably wrong about a lot of things.

Another car pulled up, a girl with overalls and dark brown hair stepped out. She wore a backpack that had a medicine box, a pair of binoculars, and what looked like a sleeping bag on top. She waved at Coran, who spoke briefly to her then headed towards Pidge. Pidge welcomed the girl to green cabin, she introduced herself as Ruth.

A small slug bug pulled in thirty minutes later, a small kid got out of the car when his mom opened the door for him, she reached into the car and pulled out his bag.

The whole way up to Coran he hid behind his mom, when they got up there and his mom patted him on his head she walked away. He ran to her to give her a hug then ran back to the camp grounds, he picked up his stuff and started to head towards Keith. 

Keith smiled at the kid and kneeled down so that he was eye level. 

“Hi, I’m Keith, what’s your name”

That’s the softest Lance had ever heard Keith’s voice, he hadn’t know Keith for a day yet but he didn’t seem like the type to be nice to kids.

Lance didn’t catch the kids name but he saw Keith smile and nod his head, Keith messed up the kids hair.

“Nice to meet you Ike, I’m Keith”

Keith seemed a lot happier to meet Ike than he was to meet River. Ike reminded Lance a little of Keith, Keith seemed like a loner and Ike seemed like he didn’t talk to a lot of people because he was shy. 

They both sat on the steps of the red cabin, Ike was showing Keith something, it was small and Lance couldn’t see, they talked in soft, hushed voices.

Another car pulled up, it looked kind of vintage and different, it was something Lance had never seen before.

A girl with wavy brown hair, dimples, and braces walked up to Coran, she had a scooby doo shirt on and carried a camera around her neck. She carried a pen in one hand and a notebook in the other.

She slowly walked to Pidge after speaking to Coran, her name was Frances. Pidge pointed to her camera, Frances pulled it off and handed it to Pidge. They stood together both smiling as Pidge held the camera and snapped the picture. The photo slowly came out of the camera, Pidge fanned it in the air and smiled down at the girl.

Next a boy stepped out of a white convertible, his parents both stepped out in all white, a small, white poodle stuck its head out of the women’s purse. The boy was a little different then his parents, he was definitely a goth, he had all black on and heavy eyeliner on his eyes.

He was most certainly a character.

He walked towards Coran, who smiled at the boy, the boy didn’t smile back or emote at all. Lance found that a little strange but tried not to think much of it.

He walked towards Keith, Keith tried to smile at him but it looked kind of worried.

“Hello, I’m Reznor”

The boy was monotoned, his eyes were lidded over and had large bags under them.

He sat by himself in the shade at a picnic table by the red cabin, Keith kept looking back at him concerned, he wondered if Ike and him were talking about Reznor.

Lance looked around, realizing that this should be it, he stretched his muscles and nodded, motioning towards the cabin for them to pick their bunks and unpacked, then another car pulled up.

The girl had long blonde hair that looked a mess, she had on a backwards hat that covered some of it, she wore combat boots and eye black under her eyes, she looked super buff for someone her age, and she had a couple of bruises on her face, legs, and arms.

She headed to the trunk and picked up an old looking duffel bag, the person inside didn’t come out of the car and the girl didn’t bother to look back into the car, she just kept walking.

She smiled brightly at Coran, who scratched his head but pointed her to Lance. She nodded and headed towards Lance. She looked to be gliding on the ground but Lance realized that her combat boots had been made into Heelys.

She stopped by Lance and grabbed his hand, shaking it with a firm grasp.

“Hey, I’m Charlotte, it’s nice to meet yah”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this had a long ass paragraph about how I felt about Voltron’s ending and said that I wasn’t gonna continue to write this. Then I decided I was going to continue with the story and wrote a second chapter. It looked weird with nothing here so, I’m writing something now for the ending note... yeah. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story!!


	2. The Rivalry Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha ah, I wrote a second chapter.... and it took me WAY too long, I’m so sorry about that. I really wasn’t planning on writing another chapter but here it is. I’m working on the plot line I have six chapters thought out, but I’m a slow writer, so we’ll see.

Charlotte was Lance's last camper. By the look on Corans face she wasn’t planned to be here, but here she was and Lance was going to accept her into Cabin Blue.

“I’m Lance, I’ll be your counselor this summer, it’s nice to meet you Charlotte, the other campers have already started to unpack, you can join them”

She walked past him with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step.

She threw her duffel bag on the top bunk of where Lance slept last night, and climbed to the top. There was no ladder but Charlotte got up there just fine.

She pulled out a cream colored blanket and a pillow and began putting them where she wanted on the bed. Anthony was in the bathroom, making a ruckus, and Amber was sitting on her bed, picking at her nails avoiding looking at anyone.

“We don’t have to hurry up so you guys can take your time, everyone can wait on us”

“Our mom says it’s not good to make people wait, I think that’s because Anthony takes so long in the bathroom”

A muffled “that is not true” followed.

“My mom always says, “toma todo el tiempo que necesites hijo”, which means, take all the time you need son, so I do exactly that, who wants to show up to a party early anyway”

“We’re not going to a party” and, “that’s what I always say,'' were said at the same time. Lance chuckled at the bickering, it reminded him of him and his siblings.

“But you might not want to take too long, we might get yelled at”

Charlotte climbed down and sat by Lance, she was full of energy, he could almost see her shake.

“So where are you from”

“I’m from Cuba, my brother drove me here”

“All the way from Cuba, or you serious, no way, I had to beg my dad to drive me two hours to come here, Cuba”

“Yes chica, Cuba, it wasn’t that long honestly, only three and a half days”

Charlotte laughed at his statement.

“Only, you have to be kidding me, what does chica mean”

“Girl, do you not know Spanish, ay ay ay”

“Boy, what does it mean”

Lance busted out laughing, he couldn’t help himself. Charlotte probably thought it was a little rude, he saw her scrunch up her nose.

“Sorry, chica means girl in Spanish”

“Oh, that’s cool, what other words do you know, do you know any cuss words”

“I can not teach you curse words, I’ll get in trouble niña”

Charlotte looked at Lance like he was Jesus.

“That’s a stupid excuse, just one little bad word, I won’t say it around anyone, I’ll just say it in here, pinky promise”

She said it with a singsong tone to her voice and fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“Fine, a bad word in Spanish is-“

“Campers and counselors, report to the campfire at this moment”

Lance shrugged at them and held the door open while they filed out. 

“Ah, come on Lance”

“Nope, to the campfire you go, Anthony we have all the time tonight to arrange all your things, I promise”

Anthony pokes his head out of the bathroom with a crooked eyebrow.

“Come on Ant, you will, Lance promised”

“I better have lots of time or I’m going to be mad”

“I’ll even help you organize it if you want”

They walked out the cabin door, it slammed behind them after they had walked down the steps. Lance helped them put on their bandanas then stood by Coran till everyone else came out.

“The red doesn’t match my outfit, I’m not putting it on”

River pretty much screamed it, everyone looked over at her.

“It’s just till we know each other, after a week they won’t matter”

“Are you kidding me Kevin, it doesn’t match”

“My name is Keith”

Ike was latched onto Keith’s pant leg, his small hands were clenched in the fabric so hard his knuckles were turning white.

“I don’t care what your name is, I’m not wearing red, it doesn’t match my shoes or my earrings, so I can’t wear it”

“Can you shut up, please”

Reznor seemed like a boring person, his voice and face had no expression, he looked like someone Lance would stay away from.

“Maybe you should change your wardrobe, MCR has been dead for years now”

“Um, actually they’re back together, so yeah, your argument is kinda weak”

Keith looked between the two, then up at Shiro. Shiro just shrugged at him.

“O-okay, there’s no need to argue, let’s go to the campfire, okay, we’ll just do the activity alright, maybe get to know each other a little better”

“Kyle why are you so weird”

Keith looked at her for a while then took Ike’s hand to lead him to the fire pit.

“Come on Rez, let's go by the fire pit”

“I like fire, I had a parrot that flew into my fireplace once, I cried”

“My daddy says that fire is a symbol for the fall of our government”

Keith patted Ike on the head and sighed.

“What do you know about politics, you’re like fourteen”

“Well Ryan, my daddy is a part of the House, so I think I know more than you do”

“It’s Reznor”

Keith tried to ignore them, Lance could see his jaw clench and unclench.

“HELLO EVERYONE, it is my pleasure to meet you all, I am Coran as you know, and I am the head counselor for Camp Altea, the tall woman is Allura, the man with the orange headband is Hunk, and the man with the white tuft of hair is Shiro”

“You could of had us introduce ourselves Coran”

With a blinding smile Coran looked at Shiro and said.

“Well I did it for you, we are going to play a game called Bumbleshack, you go out to the woods, befriend a squirrel, then we bring them back here and have them fight to the death, it was one of my favorite games as a kid”

“Where did you grow up”

Asked Desma, concern dripped from her voice.

“I grew up in the Boot Hill”

“I am not hurting a squirrel Coran”

Charlotte’s voice cracked halfway through her sentence.

“You won’t be hurting it dear Charlotte, they’ll be hurting each other”

“How about we play a game to get to know each other, like, twenty question or something”

Shiro smiled at the kids.

“I wanna play a competition game, something I can win at sir”

“We have a pond Shiro, we can do swimming races”

Ike pulled on Keith’s hand after he said that. Keith kneeled down to listen to him.

“Or not”

Pidge chewed on the bed of her nails.

“Oh, hey, there’s Capture the Flag, it’s a simple game and is competitive, we can make it like a tournament, Red Vs Blue, the winner vs Green, whoever wins that one is the winner”

“We should probably get to know each other, we’re kind of strangers, we can at least learn names, maybe Red Rover” 

“I’m sure my mom would leave me with a bunch of strangers”

Frances said it under her breath, but Shiro's keen ears caught it.

“She did actually, sort of, it was a phone call, I’ve never met any of your parents in person”

Frances turned red and looked away, she fumbled with the camera that hung around her neck.

“Get ready to get your asses handed to you”

“Lance, there are children here, don’t say that”

Pidge wasn’t sure Lance heard her over their whooping and hollering.

“Charlotte, the eye black under your eyes, do you have more”

“Yeah”

“Go get it, hurry up”

Charlotte ran to their cabin, tripling over a rock and laughing at herself on the way. She came back a few minutes later with a little black tube in her hand.

“Here yah go Cc”

Amber looked at Charlotte.

“Closed captioning, what”

“No silly, camp counselor, I thought it had a ring to it”

Lance put his hand on Charlottes shoulder.

“Cc, I like it, has a ring to it”

Lance smeared eyeblack in his fingers then put it under his eyes. He handed the tube to Anthony, who helped Amber put it on, then put some on himself.

“I hope this doesn’t ruin my skin”

“One pimple isn’t going to kill you Anthony, it’ll just be there”

“It might not kill you”

Anthony looked over at Charlotte.

“But it will be the end of the world for me, and I’ll make sure everyone knows it”

“That’s a mood, damn, same”

Lance fist bumped Anthony.

“You won’t die from a pimple, people get them all the time”

“Maybe you won’t, but I will”

Lance chuckled.

“I’ll make sure you won’t get a pimple Anthony, I brought enough face masks to last a lifetime, I don’t want pimples either”

“Good, pimples are scary, no thank you, I would rather die, I wasn’t kidding”

Lance looked over to red cabin to see Keith glaring at him.

“What mullet, are you just jealous of how my skin glows and yours is just oil”

“No, I’m glaring because every word that comes out of your mouth is stupid”

“What have I said that’s stupid”

Lance glared back.

“Like I said, everything”

“Okay, lets just start, Red and Blue cabin, you guys are up first”

Lance hadn’t played Capture the Flag since he was little, his siblings and him would play when their mom sent them outside. When he was younger he didn’t understand why she would send them, as he grew he acknowledged the screaming that came from inside the house. He still tried to enjoy the game, but it felt different after.

“I haven’t played this since elementary school, the gym teacher would always put Anthony and I on different teams, we would always run for each other and one of us always ended up hurt”

“I broke your wrist that one time, I had to sit out the rest of that day”

They both had big smiles on their faces and were laughing, Anthony was laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach. It made Lance smile.

“Alright”

Coran and Allura had set cones, Shiro directed his voice to the campers.

“Red and Blue, to the starting line”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I’ve already started the third chapter but like I said I’m kind of a slow writer. I do plan to get this one out faster than the last, I also liked the first chapter a lot more than this one, but it is what it is.


	3. From His Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red cabin may be my favorite. It’s probably because Keith is my favorite character from Voltron but idk??

Keith had never planned on working at the summer camp. Allura began talking about it in September when she found out about the campgrounds.

“They have these cute little cabins and an air horn, Coran will get a kick out of it I just know it, we can advertise on Facebook”

“What are you, fifty, nobody uses Facebook anymore”

She ignored Keith and continued to go on and on about it. Keith got tired of it really quick.

Shiro told Keith he should be happy that Allura was so excited about it. He had never seen her so thrilled, sure. That didn’t make him anymore excited about it though.

The four of them, Allura, Shiro, Allura’s uncle Coran, and Keith, piled into Alluras Jeep and drove eighteen hours to Mooresviles, Alabama. It smelled there. He didn’t know what it smelled like, but it smelled bad. He guessed it was tolerable.

He picked one of the cabins to sleep in, the red one. He picked it so he could sleep alone, he spent most of his time there, he didn’t get the privacy like he expected, he should have known better since he knew Coran and Allura.

“Keith, will you help paint the cabins”

“Keith, help carry the tables”

“Keith can you fix the hinges on the doors”

They basically rebuilt the place. A lot of the boards were rotting off all the buildings, paint was chipping, the place really looked like shit. He had to give it to Allura, it did look better.

“I think we’ve done a good job, don’t you think”

“It’s not horrible Allura”

Keith would never tell her that it actually looked good. She really was proud, Keith was proud of her.

“People are interested, the post has one hundred likes”

Allura told them that as they sat in a booth at Denny’s. Keith didn’t know much about Facebook, or social media in general, but he was guessing that was a lot of likes.

“Has anyone contacted you about the camp”

“Yeah, a women named Carol, her daughters name is Desma, if I remember correctly, she told me Desma liked the stars”

Allura talked about the girl for a while. Keith continued to eat his pancakes, he paid little attention to it.

That’s how it went for weeks. He listened to Allura talk to each kids parents. Her cheery voice got annoying, it gave him a headache most of the time.

“Hello this is Allura Altea, the assistant counselor of Camp Altea, how may I help you”

She said it everytime, it got to the point where her phone would ring and Keith would walk away from her. 

The camp hadn’t even started and Keith was already tired of it. 

Allura had always known Shay, she was asked to work as a lunchlady for the camp, but Shay was going to France to visit her family. She volunteered her boyfriend, Hunk, to do it. They met in culinary school, Shay said he was really good.

“I promise you, he won’t make microwave pizza for lunch”

Shiro’s friend, Matt, he was also their loud and sometimes obnoxious roommate, agreed to be a counselor. He had a little sister, Keith didn’t know her that well, but Matt said that being around her made him great with little kids. She came with him.

“Hey Takashi, it’s been a while man”

“We saw each other two hours ago at McDonald’s Matt, you act like it was an eternity”

“It was Shiro, it felt like forever, two hours is a long time buddy”

They were alright, both of them were hyper and almost never sat still, but they both were very intelligent and good with machinery. Keith could stand them, he’s had to for two years with Matt, they lived in the same dorm room, and he actually started to like Pidge. 

The burners on the stove didn’t work, so Matt fixed them. That’s when he got the call.

“Kerberos, are you serious, like all the way, I- I would love to, I can’t believe I was chosen thank you, yes, I’m in Alabama right now but I can get to Nebraska, it’ll take about nineteen hours I think, yeah, alright, we can meet then, right, thank you”

Everyone in the room looked at him.

“I’m going to space, holy shit”

“No way”

“Yes way”

Pidge and Matt danced around the dining hall chanting “to space, to space, Matt’s going to space” over and over again.

“I told you you’d get there eventually”

“Couldn’t have done it without you Takashi”

That day Matt began packing up his stuff.

“I’m leaving in the morning, I was told I should be gone for about twenty three mouths, I go to space in six weeks, it’ll take me about a year to get to Mars”

That’s what they were told when he was leaving. 

“I’m sure you’ll find someone else to run the cabin, you guys will be good I promise”

Keith really thought they weren’t going to, Allura searched desperately for another counselor, but a day before the kids showed up, Lance McClain showed up to camp.

“Do you have a mullet”

It was the first thing Lance ever said to him. It was also the stupidest question he had ever heard. Yes he had a mullet, couldn’t the boy fucking see.

“Yes I have a mullet, is that a crime”

That’s where them butting heads started.

At this moment Lance's knee was digging into the back of Keith’s neck, Lance held a blue flag that Keith had taken a few seconds ago.

“Aha, caught yah mullet”

“Lance, you should probably get off of his neck”

He hadn’t seen Lance coming for him. The boy had tagged him on his left shoulder, it was hard enough that it knocked him to the ground. He wasn’t really sure why Lance had decided to put his knee in his neck though.

“Oh, I hadn’t even noticed, sorry”

“How do you not noticed that your knee is on someone’s neck”

Keith rubbed his neck and glared at Lance.

“I get caught up in the thrill of winning, cause it looks like you just lost”

Charlotte waved the last red flag over on her head with a big smile on her face.

Keith was offered a hand but he brushed it off and stood up. He looked over to his side, where Reznor was standing in the shade in the corner of the boundary, Ike was sitting in the grass holding flowers that he had picked, and River stood cross armed in the middle of the field.

“Come on guys we lost”

Keith led them to a bench. Reznor and Ike sat down, but River stayed standing.

“Aren’t you going to sit”

“No, I’m not getting a splinter in my butt, why am I the only girl in my cabin, why doesn’t the blonde kid in blue cabin move here and I go to blue”

“I don’t know, I didn’t make the cabins, plus the two blonde kids from cabin blue are siblings, so I doubt they want to be separated”

River blew air out of her nose and crossed her arms.

“Also the beds look uncomfortable and it smells out here, I didn’t choose to go here okay, and to make it worse we lost, I am not getting last Kaden, okay, so pick it up next round”

Keith glanced at Reznor, who kept a neutral expression.

“Please sit down”

They didn’t talk after that, Reznor and Ike were both quiet, neither of them said much. Ike seemed shy, Reznor seemed like he kept to himself, Keith could relate to both of those things. He was never very talkative as a kid, he still really wasn’t to be honest. College brought him out of his shell a little though. 

He must of spaced out, he felt a tug on his sleeve and Ike was standing in front of him. Ike held a small flower crown made of dandelions. Keith took it gently in his hands.

“I made this for you, I hope you like it”

Keith placed it on his head and patted Ike on the shoulder.

“It’s probably going to fall off when we play next, it might get ruined”

“That’s okay, mistakes happen, I’ll make you another”

They were silent after that.

—————————

Red cabin played Green who lost to Blue Cabin. Blue cabin with two wins under the belts got first, the best Green or Red could do is one win.

“That’s one win for Blue cabin baby”

They all bumped fists and yelled in victory. It made Keith a little jealous.

Pidge was a much better sport than Lance. She didn’t say much to Keith during it, a good luck at the beginning was about it.

Green cabin was pretty athletic, unlike everyone in red cabin. Ike was four foot tall and very slow, Reznor wasn’t one for running and put minimal effort into activity, River didn’t do anything, which wasn’t a surprise.

They lost again, Keith wasn’t shocked, probably no one else was either. 

Keith really didn’t care that much.

“At least it’s wasn’t as bad as the first one, it was still bad though”

River wasn’t one to sugar coat things.

Next was lunch, Keith wasn’t all that hungry, but Hunk was supposed to be a good cook.

“Sorry we don’t have much for food, I’ll have to go into town tonight to get some things I can cook with”

Hunk had made peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, Keith was not impressed.

“I’m allergic to peanuts”

Ike said it in a small voice barely loud enough for Keith to hear.

“Ike can’t eat peanut butter”

“Alright, I’m sure I can find, something”

Everyone else had sat down, they were eating their PB&J and talking amounts themselves. Keith stood with Ike while Hunk looked for something.

“Oh, I forgot, I’m so sorry Ike, I should have mentioned your allergy to Hunk before he began to make lunch”

Ike nodded and smiled at Allura, small hands were bunched in Keith’s shirt.

“I found cheese sticks kiddo, I’m sorry about that, like I said, I’m getting more food tonight”

Ike took them and thanked Hunk. Keith also took a cheese stick and walked back to the table with Ike.

“Hey Keith”

“Yeah Ike”

“I don’t like cheese sticks”

It was gonna be a long summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sure when the next chapter will come out. I have a short description of what I want to happen in the next chapter, but it’s not a lot to go off of so we’ll see. I also start school soon and softball starts a lot sooner. I’ll try to stay productive and not post the next chapter like six months from now...


	4. I Know You’re Up to Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter pretty fast. I start school next week though, I also have softball everyday so the next chapter might take a while. It’s also my junior year so... :/ I’m not sure if I’ll have a lot of time to write. Hopefully I will.

“Really, blue is your favorite color, that is so boring”

“Well what was I supposed to say, aquamarine”

Anthony sat up from his bed and looked at Lance who laid on the floor.

“Everyone’s favorite color is blue, it gets old hearing it”

“Then what’s your favorite color”

“Greyed jade, it’s a very pretty shade of green”

Charlotte was swinging her feet off the side of the bed she claimed.

“Well, I guess I’m boring then, because my favorite color is purple, just purple, violet is okay I guess, I don’t know”

“My favorite color is yellow, but Anthony told me that was too boring, so I changed it to Marigold, I was talking to someone normal one day and instead of saying yellow, like a normal person would, I said Marigold, she didn’t talk to me for weeks”

Amber aimed her words at Anthony, she stared at him after she was finished.

“That’s not my fault, you chose to say Marigold, not me, you also chose it as your favorite color, so I don’t know why you’re complaining”

“Everything you do is so specific, I’ve never understood it, I guess if I don’t understand by now I never will”

The glowing orange sun peeked through the window. It gave the room a hue that made Lance sleepy. 

“Shiro said that he would tell everyone when the fire is lit, I also have bug spray that Hunk gave me when he got back so everyone will spray themselves so they don’t get mosquito bites”

A shout came from outside, everyone in the cabin glanced towards the door. Lance stood from his bed and looked out to see Coran had lit his pants on fire somehow.

“Jiminy crickets, my pants”

“Coran how did y-“

Coran dropped to the floor and started rolling in the dirt.

“I thought you said Shiro was supposed to say when the fire was lit”

Amber said it at Lance's side, a small smirk was on her face.

“Haha, very funny, Shiro was supposed to tell us”

“Are you okay Coran”

Lance hadn’t noticed that the other cabins had joined them outside.

“I’m fine my boy, that happens quite often, if catching yourself on fire was a sport I’d be a pro”

“Okay, that’s uh, interesting Coran”

Lance forced the words out of his mouth, he had never even gotten close to setting himself on fire.

“It’s a good thing you’re fine Coran”

Pidge added while she picked up the keys that had fallen out of Corans pocket.

“Well, fires lit”

“I’ve never made a s’more before”

Charlotte said it with a chuckle.

“Are you serious, no, eso no es bueno, I’m going to teach you how to make the best s’more ever, I can’t believe you’ve never made a s’more before”

“I live in the city, we don’t have a fire pit, I just like to walk sixteen miles to the woods to climb trees, well sometimes I ride my bike”

Lance shook his head.

“Well today will be a day to remember because, one you met me, and two you’re gonna eat your first s’ more”

“You’re kinda full of yourself, y’know”

Lance turned to Keith, who stood to his right, he had an eyebrow raised and a frown on his face.

“I’m not full of myself Mullet, I just have a lot of confidence and I’m confident in my skills to make the best s’more known to man”

“Whatever”

He watched Keith turn back around and head towards the lake. Ike, who was at his side, tugged on his shirt and went to whisper something in Keith’s ear.

“Alright buddy”

You could barely hear Keith say it. They turned back and walked towards the fire.

The rest of Red cabin had sat on the logs, neither of them knowing what to do. Everyone looked kind of out of place.

“Charlotte, go find the perfect stick for your s’more”

“How will I know it’s the perfect stick”

Lance pointed to his heart.

“You’ll feel it in here”

Charlotte spent a while picking up sticks, she would look at them, turn them in her hand, then throw them on the ground. She finally picked up a stick and brought it over to Lance.

“This is the one”

Everyone else looked confused, a small “what”, could be heard from Hunk, who just got back from town.

“Hell yeah, it’s the perfect stick”

Charlotte sat by the fire, waiting for Lance to get back with her marshmallow.

“When the marshmallow is golden on the outside that’s when you want to stop cooking it”

She put her marshmallow over the fire, Frances had already cooked hers and was eating it on the log. Ruth smiled as she was passed a stick.

“I’m not supposed to eat sweets”

Charlotte’s eyebrows were scrunched together in concentration. Lance also watched, to make sure she didn’t over cook it.

“That’s good, you don’t want to burn it”

She flinched, when he said it. He must have caught her off guard. She put the marshmallow on a graham cracker with a Hershey's chocolate bar. She took one bite and chewed it for a while. Lance had started to cook his.

“Do you like it”

“I’m a little disappointed honestly, I thought it was gonna be the best thing I’ve ever eaten, it’s alright I guess”

“No, it’s the best desert out there, except for maybe cake”

Keith had burned his, he caught it on fire. It looked like an accident, his eyes got really big as he blew it out. He fixed it and cooked another. Ike and him left for the lake after.

“Sticks are dirty though, I’m not going to put something I’m going to eat on it”

“Sticks really aren’t that dirty, you just have to look for bugs”

“Hush Charlie, I didn’t ask”

“It’s Charlotte”

River didn’t respond.

“Keegan sucks at making s’mores anyway”

Keith didn’t pay attention to her. He gave the s’more he made to Ike and yawned.

“I agree River, Keith does suck at making s’mores”

“I didn’t mean to burn it, it was an accident”

“It’s not that hard to not catch things one fire”

Keith pointed to Coran.

“Well Coran caught his pants on fire, so obviously it isn’t that hard to catch things on fire”

They heard someone clear their throats and turned their heads. Allura was standing in pajama pants and a t-shirt.

“It’s past ten, that’s the curfew I set, Shiro should have enforced it better, you get woken up at six thirty by the alarm, so I suggest you guys go to sleep so you’re not grumpy in the morning”

The kids all groaned. Keith helped put out the fire and Lance gathered the s’more supplies. After that was put up they headed back to their cabins without a word.

“Alright campers, you heard Allura, we wake up at six thirty, the alarm is loud by the way, so get some sleep”

————————————

The kids all got ready and in bed hours ago. Someone, he thinks it’s Amber, is softly snoring, the sound blends with the crickets that chirp outside. It was pitch black, Lance's phone had died an hour ago and his charger was somewhere, he just stared at the ceiling. He noticed a shape that looked kind of like a turkey, and another that looked kind of like a bus.

He wondered what time it was. He also wondered if Silvio was asleep, he could never sleep on his own. His nephew was scared of the dark and also scared of rejection. The seven year old would crawl into Lances bed in the middle of the night and fall asleep, he knew Lance would never tell him to go away.

He knew Veronica wasn’t home, she had left for college, Marco wasn’t home either for the same reason. His mom was probably awake, she was probably worried sick, he couldn’t call her to tell her he’d made it, Luis hadn’t made it home yet.

A light that shone through the cabin window drew him out of his thoughts. Lance hopped down quietly and looked. He couldn’t see the face or anything, but one thing stood out to him. The outline of a mullet was very prominent in the shadow.

“What the hell is he up to”

Lance stayed at the window as he watched Keith head towards the woods. The light would shine through the trees every now and again, Lance watched the sway of the light as Keith walked farther, until it disappeared.

Lance didn’t sleep a wink that night.

————————————

He asked Keith in the morning, he waited for him to come out of his cabin.

“Where’d you go last night”

“What”

“You left your cabin at like three maybe, I saw you walk toward the woods”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Lance, I was asleep last night, you can ask Ike”

Lance knew Ike probably wasn’t going to respond to him. So he asked someone who would, and she’d tell the truth.

“River, did Keith leave last night”

“I don’t know, I didn’t hear anything, so no I guess, why”

Lance shook his head.

“I swear I saw him leave last night, I couldn’t sleep and saw him leave”

“I don’t know, maybe you’re sleep deprived, I didn’t hear him leave, I was asleep though, I don’t know where he’d go”

Lance was sure Keith left, he saw Keith leave. He’d figure it out, he had a plan.


	5. Cabin in the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I got this chapter out in two days. Go me I guess. School starts Wednesday, not looking forward to that, but here’s another chapter.

“Hey Lance”

It had been a few days, Lance had honestly lost track. Maybe four? He wasn’t sure.

“Are you doing okay, you’ve just looked a little, out of it the last few days”

“Yeah, I’m doing good Amber, maybe a little homesick I guess”

“Oh, that’s okay, I miss my mom too, but we can be each other’s substitute family while we’re away from home”

At the moment Lance was gluing a googly eye to a little doll he made, honestly the doll was really ugly. No one else was doing any better though. Amber was trying to make a house, it was lopsided and the roof kept caving in, Anthony had found a baby head and was painting it, Frances had found a random piece of fabric and was sewing something. Everything looked really bad.

“Wow Kurt, that looks really good, it’s impressive”

River was leaning over Keith’s shoulder.

“Thanks, I minor in art, my major is in engineering”

“So these crappy arts and crafts were you’re idea”

Keith looked up from his paper and stared at River.

“No, they were actually Allura’s idea, she may have done them because she’d know I’d enjoy it though”

“Oh, you’re close”

Keith shrugged his shoulders.

“Why are you so nosy Lance”

Charlotte whispered it so only he could hear.

“I’m not nosy, she just talks loud”

“Are you dating”

Keith laughed, and so did Lance. He heard a small giggle come from Allura.

“Definitely not, she’s more of a sister than anything, an annoying girl that basically lives with Shiro and I, definitely that”

River hummed and went back to building whatever she was building before. It was pretty quiet after.

Well, until Charlotte finished her popsicle stick catapult and started flinging cotton balls everywhere. The tiny contraption shot the balls of cotton surprisingly far. 

———————————

They had to pick up all the cotton balls, sweep the glitter off the floor, and clean the tables of glue. Lance hated cleaning, he always had, they cleaned the house every Sunday after church at his house, he always got stuck with dishes. Ike made it a little better though.

“Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share”

He would repeat that over and over, it was adorable, Lance decided to join in when he looped the song. Soon everyone in the mess hall (minus Keith, what a party pooper), was singing the song and laughing.

Keith still hadn’t left his mind though. Lance stayed up every night to watch Keith leave. He went the same way every time, the light passed through the same trees and disappeared about twenty minutes after. 

He hadn’t decided how he was going to do it yet, but he wanted to follow him. Just to see what he was getting into. It’s Keith, obviously he’s planning something, or doing something bad. He just couldn’t figure out what.

“You’re quiet again”

“Just thinking about something Amber, it’s kind of stupid honestly”

“Is it, Kenny, I honestly don’t know his name, River calls him something different every time you turn around”

That was true, River had never said Keith’s name correctly.

“It’s Keith, and why would I be thinking about Keith, he’s an idiot who I don’t care about”

Lance hoped Keith heard what he said, it was the truth, he didn’t care where Keith was going at eleven thirty every night. It wasn’t like Lance tried to stay awake to see what time he came back but could never seem to pull it off.

“Then why are you, never mind, the answer is probably confusing”

It shouldn’t bother him as much as it was, Keith was minding his own business, so should Lance. They hadn’t got into a fight lately either, that was nice. Keith had also been kind of ignoring him though.

“You do seem to looks at him a lot, he’s pretty cute honestly”

Anthony wiggled his eyebrows at Lance and smirked.

“I definitely do not have a crush on Keith, and he’s not cute at all Anthony, get your eyes checked, plus, if I were to like anyone in this room, it’d be Allura”

“I think he’s cute”

“Ew Anthony”

They glanced over to where Keith sat, he shoved his food around on his plate. He overheard what Ike said, that was a first.

“Do you not like Mac n’ Cheese, I’ll eat it”

“I can’t believe you think Keith of all people is cute”

Anthony shrugged his shoulders and stuffed a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget into his mouth.

“I think his eyes look pretty, and he’s not ugly like you’re trying to make him out to be, you just have some weird grudge against him for some reason”

“Did you tell Allura about the boats we found Lance, I think that’d be a good thing to do today, it’s not too hot outside, not like it has been the other days at least”

Lance had forgotten about the boats. They were trying to find the raccoon that had been rummaging in the trash can, Charlotte talked about paw prints and what not, they had stumbled upon the boats.

“Boats”

Ruth has overheard them talking and chimes in.

“Yeah boats, they’re by the water, a little ways from the dock, it’s a good day to be in the lake and seems like a good idea”

Ruth lit up like a light bulb.

“I love swimming, I’ve done swim for eight years, it’s one of my favorite things to do”

“I didn’t know that Ruth, that’s really cool”

“Yeah my favorite stroke is butterfly but I’m best at breaststroke, I can also hold my breath for seven minutes, which is above average”

Lance didn’t know a single thing about swim, he had never played a sport as a kid, wasn’t allowed to. Ruth knew quite a bit though.

“Ike can’t swim, that’s why we didn't do it the first day remember”

“He can paddle a boat then, I want to tan, I want people to think I went to Florida for the summer instead of Alabama”

“Gulf Shores is in Alabama, there’s a beach there, you could say you went to Alabama”

River rolled her eyes.

“I’m from Florida, no one knows what Alabama is there, they’re stupid, I’m surprised you don’t know that Kenny”

“It’s been four days since we met and you still don’t know my name, my name is Keith, k,e,i,t,h, Keith, it’s not that hard, it’s pretty common, I have classes with four other Keith’s”

“Okay Kermit”

Keith shook his head.

“Now I know you’re doing it on purpose”

——————————

There were only eleven boats, all of the campers but one had a partner. Desma went with Pidge. Lance didn’t really care who else was paired he only paid attention to that because the person he was stuck with was no other than Keith.

That’s why they were stuck in the middle of the lake.

“We have to paddle at the same time or we won’t go anywhere dumbass”

“We were paddling at the same time, that’s why we’re in the middle of the lake Mullet”

The boat rocked slightly, Lance’s stomach lurched.

“You know Mullet’s not a fucking insult right”

“You should watch your mouth, there are children around Kenneth”

The boat rocked again, harder this time, as Keith turned around.

“Don’t you turn into River, my name isn’t fucking Kenneth, it’s just Keith, Keith Akira Kogane, if you want to know my full name”

“I don’t really care about your full name”

Lance leaned forward and grabbed Keith’s paddle. Keith, with a confused look on his face tried to pull the paddle away from Lance.

“What are you doing”

“I’m trying to get the paddle from you, cause you aren’t doing shit to get us to shore”

“If you would work with me, we could, so give me the paddle”

Keith pulled the paddle back towards him again. The tug wasn’t very hard, but it jostled the boat quite a bit.

“Just give the paddle to m-“

Lance pulled on the paddle hard. Keith let go of it, his pupils went wide as he realized what had happened. With the paddle in hand, Lance tumbled out of the boat, a small wave erupted from the water as Lance fell causing the boat to flip.

Lance wasn’t the best swimmer. His back hit cold water and soon he was submerged in water. Bubbles came out of his mouth as he realized what had happened. He swam to the surface, you could see the sun, just a small ball from the water. It seemed so far away, he reached up and felt his finger tips hit air, with a strong push, he reached the surface.

As his lungs filled with air he coughed up water that he had swallowed by accident and looked around. The boat, which was turned upside down, was floating nearby. Keith popped out of the water near him, he saw Lance and snarled.

“What the hell is wrong with you, if one of us didn’t know how to swim we could drowned you, ugh”

“Keith, Lance”

On the shore line stood, Allura, Shiro, Coran, Pidge, Hunk, and the kids. All of their eyes were large and their mouths hung open.

“Are you alright, that could have been really bad, it’s a good thing you guys surfaced”

Keith let out a small cough. 

“I’m fine, thank you”

Keith looked to Lance, black hair hung over his eyes, his eyes were scrunched, he looked pissed. 

Swimming in clothes was really uncomfortable, they were worse when you got out of the water. Lance's shirt stuck to him, he wasn’t sure why he had even worn one in the first place. 

He took the towel from Allura and dried his hair. From the corner of his eye he watched Keith storm to his cabin.

“You should probably apologize”

“Me apologize”

Lance turned to Shiro.

“I didn’t do anything, Keith is the reason we tipped, if he hadn’t-“

“Even if it was Keith’s fault, you should be the bigger man and apologize Lance, Keith is probably thinking the same thing, that’s why you should be the one to apologize first so the whole summer isn’t weird”

Lance huffed air through his nose.

“At least give me a day, to think of what I’m going to say”

The rest of the day was awkward. Lance tried to act like nothing was wrong, he was supposed to act fine. With Keith and his mysterious whereabouts and their fight earlier that day, it was a lot harder than it should have been. 

Lunch, the board games that had played (Lance kicked ass in Chutes and Ladders, but that didn’t matter), dinner, and when they were getting ready for bed, Lance was just angry.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it, he needed to calm down. Anthony really pulled through.

“It smells like lavender, so you can calm down, you’ve seemed mad all day, I was just hoping this would help”

It did, Lance also let Anthony braid his hair, just little braids here and there, it was calming.

“Taylor Miller has doesn’t get to make fun of how people dress, she wears boat shoes everywhere”

Lance also enjoyed Amber and Anthony’s gossip, even if he didn’t know who Taylor Miller was, it was still amusing to hear them talk. Charlotte and Amber also talked about college football, Lance thought they were talking about “soccer” as they called it. No wonder he didn’t know who the Kansas City Chiefs were.

It definitely put him in a better mood, he almost forgot about Keith completely.

At three thirty, the light shined through his window again. Lance silently got out of bed and put on his lion slippers, the door creaked loudly as it closed, he looked back through to see if any of the kids had woken up.

He forgot a light, he left his phone in the cabin and didn’t want to go back. Slowly, making sure he didn’t step on a stick and break it or something, he followed Keith through the woods. 

A little wood cabin, much like the ones they used for the campers, sat in a clearing. Lance hid behind a tree and watched Keith unlock the door, he could hear faint humming, but couldn’t make out the song. A light was switched on when Keith got inside.

Lance moved closer.

Through the window he could see a black futon, a table that looked like it could fall apart any second, a shelf with books, a cabinet, posters around the room, and Keith.

Keith plopped down on the futon, Lance watched his chest heave as he sighed and Keith closed his eyes, arms stretched over his head.

Was this all he was doing? Going somewhere no one else was so he could get privacy? It was a good idea, too bad Lance was going to ruin it.

The door creaked as he opened it, Keith’s head turned towards the door.

“A cabin all to yourself huh, sounds nice”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I just wanted to add that Keith’s middle name, Akira, comes from Beast King Golion, which is a show that Voltron is based off of. Keith’s name in there is Akira Kogane. I just liked the idea.


	6. A Feud of Two Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I wanted to get something out before I start school tomorrow. I’m also planning future chapters so I can continue to be productive, without a plan I get writers block and I don’t want that. So here this is, enjoy.

Keith looked like he was trying to stare holes into Lances head.

“What the fuck are you doing here”

“What am I doing here, I followed you here, I could ask you the same thing Keith, you’ve come here for quite a while I see”

Lance walked over to a small desk where random things like pencils, unfinished sketches, and pictures sat. He picked up a piece of gum that sat with the other items and popped it into his mouth.

“I’ve been coming here since September, and I like it just being me in here”

“It’s kind a bland for being in here since September, don’t you think”

Lance watched Keith’s jaw clench and unclench. 

“Most of my stuff is in my cabin, I had to sneak stuff in here because I didn’t want anyone else here”

Lance sat down at the desk chair and set his feet on top of the desk. 

“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to put your feet on a table”

“Oh definitely, if I were at home I would get a whooping, but I’m not at home and I’m in a little cabin without my parents in it, so I can do things like prop my legs on a desk”

Lance watched as Keith rolled his eyes, a small smile formed on Lance's lips.

“I enjoy watching you get annoyed, it’s amusing”

Keith ignored him, that wasn’t something Lance wanted.

“Cabina de Lance, it has a pretty ring to it don’t you think”

Keith was still staring at Lance, his eyes were still mad and his mouth was still in a scowl.

“What this isn’t your cabin, qué tarao que sos”

“Cállate, I’m surprised you know how to say that Keith, it’s kind of impressive”

Keith, who was still on the futon, stretched his legs and kicked the chair that Lance sat on. It just spun a bit.

“Haven’t you learned your lesson on flipping things over already today, I mean you did flip the boat, which was kind of uncool if I’m being honest”

“If you wouldn’t have reached for the paddle then we wouldn’t of, you know what, I’m not going to argue with you, we’re playing hush puppies, one, two, three, hush puppies”

Lance always did that to his little siblings and cousins when he didn’t want to talk to them, he had tried it once on Luis, but had gotten yelled at for being disrespectful.

“We are not playing hush puppies, I’m not five”

Keith shushed him as he continued doing whatever he was doing before Lance walked in.

“Keith, I literally play hush puppies with my five year old cousin, I’m not going to pla-“

“Hush”

“This is fucking stupid Keith”

Keith sat his pencil down and looked up.

“If you’re not gonna be quiet I’m kicking you out and locking the door”

“Yeah right”

Keith picked him up by the shirt, sat him down on the cabin steps, then closed and locked the door. Lance banged on the door.

“Keith, let me in you asshole, I’m not gonna leave”

To top it all off, it started to rain.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Kenneth, let me in, it’s raining”

“I’ve already told you, it’s just Keith, not Kenneth and shut up, go back to camp”

Lance’s forehead thudded against the door a few times as he leaned against the door, rain soaked through his shirt.

“I’m not leaving, cabina de Lance, remember, you can’t kick me out”

“I already have, now go back to camp”

Lance pouted, even though he realized Keith couldn’t see it.

“But I came all the way out here, just to find you, I thought you were getting into trouble Kenneth, so I had to stop you from doing whatever you were doing”

“You’re gonna stop me from drawing in a small cabin in the woods, that sounds stupid Lance, now that you know I’m not doing anything, you can leave”

Lance left his spot on the stairs to stand by the window near the futon. He touched his nose to the glass and stared at Keith, trying to make his best puppy dog eyes.

“I know you hate me, but you hate me enough to let me get sick, what kind of monster are you”

“A really bad one I guess, because I’m gonna let you get sick out there”

Keith didn’t budge no matter how much Lance pestered him. Lance honestly started to feel tired, he moved back to sitting on the step, he had started to drift to sleep when the door creaked open and he fell on his back.

“You really aren’t going to leave are you”

“Told you I wasn’t”

Lance said it with a yawn. The rain was really coming down, it looked like a blur when you looked around, the sound of rain hitting the metal roof was loud, but calming.

“Come in idiot, but seriously be quiet, you’re annoying all the time, I’m trying to get away from loud and annoying”

“You only said I was annoying in the first sentence, now I’m loud and annoying”

Lance yawned again.

“Yes, you’re always loud and annoying, here”

A blanket was shoved in his hands, so were a pair of sweats.

“You’re probably gonna get sick anyway so it doesn’t really matter but whatever, now shut up and sleep”

“Aren’t you being sweet Keith, I thought you only had mean bones in your body”

“I do, but sometimes my brain kicks in, now shut the fuck up Lance”

Lance took his shirt off and put on the sweats, the second his head hit the pillows he was out, well not before he could hear a small, stupid fucking idiot, come from the other boy in the room.

——————————

“Get up, we have to leave”

A hand was shaking Lances shoulder, Lance tried to shove him off. 

“Come on Lance”

“Leave me the fuck alone”

“Now you know how I feel, now come on we’ve got to go before Coran wakes up at the crack of dawn and finds out we’re not in our cabins”

Lance sat up and felt snot run down his nose. He also had a headache, he really just felt achy everywhere, he was probably sick, stupid on his part from sitting out in the rain for like twenty minutes.

“Do you think we have zinc tablets and Vitamin C supplements somewhere”

“Probably not, now get the fuck up”

“It’ll get rid of my cold, it’ll be like I never had one in the first place”

Keith groaned as he pulled Lance to his feet and shoved him towards the door.

“I don’t care, let’s go Lance, I’ll lead the way”

“I should know that’ll help, I’m going to school to be a pharmacist, being a pharmacist’s assistant is boring though, you just count pills all day”

Keith had to drag Lance all the way back to the campgrounds, barely listening as Lance rambled on about medicine.

“Most of the time you count them in groups of sevens, because that’s how many days are in a week, my dad’s not too happy that I wanna be a pharmacist, but he wasn’t happy when I wanted to work at an amusement park either so”

“That’s sucks, now hush, when you go in your cabin be quiet, you can ask Allura for zinc pills or whatever tomorrow when you get up, and don’t come back to the cabin, dumbass”

Keith left Lance by the fire pit. Lance sniffled and watched Keith walk to his cabin. 

“See you tomorrow Kenneth”

Before Lance could hear Keith’s response, he stepped into his cabin. The kids were sleeping, so he quietly got into his bunk. He quickly fell asleep again.

———————————

The alarm went off at six am on the dot, like it had every day that Lance had been there. Today it felt different though, his head throbbed and the horn was way too loud. Everyone groaned.

“Why can’t we sleep in for once, holy crap”

“I don’t know, it’s not like we can do anything anyway, it poured last night”

Charlotte poked her head down to see Lance.

“You sound stuffy, don’t be getting sick on me”

“I think it’s a little too late for that, I’ll be fine, I’m gonna ask Allura if she has any medicine, I’m good”

He felt groggy all day, like his limbs couldn’t move the way he wanted them to.

At breakfast Pidge noticed that Lance wasn’t as talkative as usual.

“Are you doing good Lance”

“I think I’m getting a little sick Pidge, I’ll be fine”

Pidge shook her head.

“I’m sure we have zinc tablets somewhere, that’ll help”

“Most people don’t just carry zinc tablets”

“Trust me Allura is always prepared, for everything, so is Coran, I’m pretty sure Coran has a bunker ready for the zombie apocalypse”

They did have zinc tablets, which definitely helped lance feel better after a little while. 

“What are we supposed to do today, it’s disgusting outside”

“We have things to do inside, like ping pong, we have a ping pong table and paddles in here somewhere”

Lance hated ping pong. It was gonna be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I start school tomorrow, I’m not doing online school so I won’t be able to be on my phone that much. Softball also cuts my time to write. I do plan on staying pretty productive with the story, but I don’t know how hard junior year will be for me yet.


	7. Doesn’t Mean I Don’t Hate You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of this chapter makes no sense, I changed what it was about but I liked the name, I guess it works for Charlotte and River. I don’t know. This chapter is also kind of boring, it’s also pretty short, I’m sorry about that. The next chapter will be more exciting I promise.

Ping pong was never Lance's strong suit in P.E. He was good at running, he loved to run. It always felt like he was running from his problems, running somewhere that was bright and sunny. Lance thought running was beautiful.

His siblings thought he was weird for thinking that. They didn’t run though. The beginning of every race he thought of the end, a place better than where he was before, and a him that was better than before. No one would ever understand it. That was fine with him.

He tried soccer in middle school. He ended up hating it, he felt bad about it, it was kind of expensive, he even got new shoes for it. He pushed through that year, he was hit in the face with the ball too often. Quitting made his dad upset.

He dreaded playing kickball, soccer, basketball, hockey, and especially ping pong.

“I’m good at ping pong, I’ve played since I was little, it was the only sport daddy would let me play”

River seemed proud in the fact that she played ping pong, Lance couldn’t understand why. 

“I’ll go against you Amelia”

Charlotte had been trying to befriend River. She tried talking, smiling, she gave River her dessert, Lance really didn’t know why, he guessed Charlotte was just a good person. Lance wouldn’t befriend her.

“Are you sure Chelsea, I’m sure you’d be sad about losing”

“I’m fine with losing, I just like to win”

River smiled at Charlotte, the smile gave Lance the heebie-jeebies.

“If you say so”

River wasn’t kidding when she said she was good. Charlotte missed everything that she hit towards her. A wicked smile laid on River’s face.

“See, I played club, you’re just athletic, if you played for years you’d probably beat me eventually, because you have the capability to, but you have no experience”

River hit the ball past Charlotte again.

“And no chance of winning”

Charlotte seemed a little hurt by it. Her nose flared as she took a deep breath.

“So teach me”

“What”

“Teach me how to get better”

River laughed.

“And why would I do that”

“So you can have competition, that’s what you want, isn’t it”

Everyone else could barely get the ball over the net. Ike wasn’t even tall enough to see over the board. 

River did teach Charlotte something. She turned her hands in the paddle so she was holding it correctly, she swung her arm to show Charlotte how to swing hers, and was talking about how hard to hit it. Lance was surprised River was being so nice.

“Idiot, come here, a boards open”

Keith, who he forgot was in the room, called him over. Lance grabbed a paddle and twirled it in his hand.

“Ready to get your ass whooped”

“Keith, there are children, plus I doubt you’re any good at ping pong”

Keith bounced the ball on the table and hit it over, Lance bounced it back. It went on like that, neither of them could seem to make a point. They kept hitting the ball harder and harder, trying to get the other to mess up. Soon the ball didn’t bounce like it used to on the table and died on Lance's side.

“Hah”

Keith breathed.

“I won”

“What, how”

“You couldn’t bounce the ball back over here so, I get the point”

“That’s stupid”

Keith shook his head and set down his paddle.

“No, not really, I won, good game “

“I want a rematch”

Keith smiled.

“Alright, best two out of three then”

The other two games went like the first, Lance was surprised that Keith was decent at ping pong.

“You guys are stupid”

Pidge said it in the middle of a serve, neither of the boys paid attention to her. 

River and Charlotte were still playing also, their game was a lot more calm. River seemed to be going easy, every once in a while she would hit one hard or do something that Charlotte couldn’t seem to hit, but the game was pretty calm.

“Quit cheating Kenneth”

“How the hell do you cheat in ping pong”

Reznor and Ike has started a game, Ike was standing on a milk crate that someone had found. The ball hadn’t gotten over the net yet. 

“You have to hit my side of the table when you hit it to me”

“I have been you idiot, pay attention”

Keith hit him the next serve, right in the chest. It stung a bit, but was gone for a minute.

“I didn’t that time”

Lance rolled his eyes.

After a while they noticed the ball didn’t bounce the same, it would hit a certain spot and stop. 

“We cracked the ball, the seam is broken”

Lance took it from Keith’s hand and looked.

“Oh, we might have another one”

“We don’t”

Lance jumped and Keith flinched at the sound of Allura’s voice. They both looked at her, Keith glanced over Lances shoulder, and Keith cranked his head.

“Hey Allura, did I tell you, you looked beautiful today”

“Why’d you crack the ball”

Lance winced when Allura ignored him. He glanced at Keith for the answer, Keith was glancing at him.

“Uhm, we didn’t mean to, it must of come off of Lance’s paddle wrong”

“Why my paddle”

“You looked at me for the answer and I gave her one, what else did you expect”

Lance wasn’t really sure what he wanted Keith to say, but it wasn’t that. Lance looked at Keith with big eyes, he shrugged back.

“I didn’t do it, Keith hit the-“

“Quit, both of you, sit in the corners, you’re in time out”

Both Keith and Lance blinked at her.

“What”

“Sit in the corner, Keith that corner, Lance that one, go”

Keith laughed.

“You’re not my mom, I’m not to sit in the corner, I’ve never had to do that in my-“

“Well today’s going to be your first time, if you’re gonna act like a child, I’ll treat you like one, corner, go”

Allura had a bite to her voice, both of them headed to the corner.

Lance sat in his corner and watched Charlotte and Amelia play. Charlotte looked kind of frustrated as she missed the ball.

“It’s good, your turned you paddle instead of keeping it straight so you missed it”

“Owie”

Ike said it pretty loud.

“Oops, sorry”

“What happened Ike”

Pidge touched Ike on the back. Ike pointed at Reznor.

“I accidentally hit him in the face with the ball, his cheek is starting to turn red”

“It hurt”

A tear ran down his face and he sniffled. He ran to Keith and hugged him.

“Ssh, It’s gonna be okay Ike”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is like 700 words shorter than most of the other chapters. Compared to the first chapter it’s like 1,000 something words less. I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t have a lot in my plans for this chapter so yeah... I’m sorry.


	8. One Sided Fist Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I have planned. So the next chapter I still have to plan out. I don’t just plan one chapter at a time I usually plan like four or five. It shouldn’t take me that long to plan those and get back to writing so. Enjoy!

Ike did end up being fine, he had a red spot where the ball had hit him. Other than that Ike was alright. He clung to Keith’s side for the rest of the time, making it a little harder for Keith to play once he was let out of time out.

“Ha ha, loser”

“I only lost because I was a little limited in movement, if it wasn’t for that, I would’ve kicked your ass again”

“Language”

Allura came out of nowhere sometimes, neither of them knew she was in hearing distance. Keith mumbled a sorry that didn’t sound very apologetic.

They had foosball also. Both Keith and Lance were horrible at it. Charlotte, who had teamed up with Lance, and Frances, who had teamed up with Keith, were a lot better.

“Keith, it’s like soccer, pass it to me so I can score”

“I have never played soccer in my life, I don’t know how to do that”

“Then don’t let them hit it”

Charlotte had hit another goal into the post, both Charlotte and Lance celebrated and gave each other high fives.

“Good shot Charlotte”

“Thanks, Keith wasn’t paying attention”

“I was paying attention”

Lance rolled his eyes.

“Sure you were Kenneth”

Lance sniffled. His nose had been bugging him all day, he had put tissues in his shorts pockets so that he could blow his nose through out the day but he had already used them all. His eyes also itched. He tried not to let that affect him.

“Like I said, I just suck, I don’t have to be good at everything Lance”

“Keith’s weakness, foosball”

“Foosball is not my weakness”

Lance arched an eyebrow.

“So you do have a weakness”

Lance heard a clicking noise.

“And your weaknesses are being annoying and not paying attention to anything”

Keith had scored a goal while Lance wasn’t paying attention to his hands.

“Charlotte, you’re suppose to have my back, what the heck”

“Sorry, I was paying attention to your conversation”

Lance laughed and shook his head.

“We can make the point back, don’t sweat it”

They did make the point back. This was a much better game to play than ping pong, they could probably find a way to break something but it was much harder in foosball. 

“Good stop, push the ball back to me”

Charlotte did as she was told, Lance hit the ball as hard as he could and made it in the goal.

“Keith, your supposed to stop the ball, not let it go through”

“I know how to play, I’m trying”

Hunk, who had been working in the kitchen, poked his head out.

“Lunch is ready”

Lance took his hands off the sticks and ran to the kitchen. Keith tried to push him out of the way, Lance shoved back.

“What’d you make”

“Hamburgers, my cookings not even that good you two”

“That’s so wrong, el jefe maestro es Hunk”

Hunk shook his head.

“I don’t know what that means”

“He said, the master chief is Hunk, what”

Allura, who had also come to the kitchen, looked at Keith with a bewildered look on her face.

“I didn’t know you could speak Spanish, I’ve known you for like five years”

“I took a few years of Spanish in high school, that, math, and art, were the only classes I don’t almost fail”

Allura shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t know that Keith”

Hunk’s hamburgers were really good, they were probably the best hamburgers that Lance had ever eaten. 

“Did you really just put mustard on your hamburger what is wrong with you”

“Mustard isn’t even that bad, I don’t understand why people hate it so much”

“It the worst condiment to put on your food Keith, it tastes like crap”

Keith rolled his eyes and took a bite out of his disgusting burger. Lance couldn’t believe it, he made gagging noises.

“You’re so dramatic Lance”

“Yeah, my mom says it adds character”

“Well your mom probably thinks you’re an angel”

Lance laughed.

“I am an angel Keith’s”

“Maybe a fallen angel”

——————————————

It was too wet for Shiro to light a fire that night. They sat around one of the dining tables and played uno instead.

“Uno”

“How do you have uno already, you had to draw like fifteen cards a while ago”

“I’m just good at uno I guess”

“You can’t be good at Uno, it’s a game about luck”

“You two quit arguing”

Shiro, who they hadn’t seen all day, cut in, he checked his watch and nodded.

“Lights out will be in fifteen minutes”

“Such a party pooper, you act like you’re my age and not in your early thirties”

“I’m tired Coran, and my arm hurts”

Shiro has a prosthetic arm. Lance noticed it the first day, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to sound rude. Lance can’t find the courage to ask him about it now.

“I takes me more than fifteen minutes to get ready for bed”

“Me too, skin care is important and takes time”

Shiro looked at Lance and Anthony.

“Then you should hurry and get done”

He turned towards the cabin, Allura, Coran, and him had been staying in, and closed the door.

“Someone is in a bad mood, what happened to him”

“It’s probably something with Adam and him, they’ve been a little rocky these last few months, he’ll be fine”

Lance turned to Keith.

“Who”

“Shiro’s boyfriend, he’s not happy that Shiro is in Alabama and that he can’t come here, he tried to convince Shiro not to come here”

“I thought that-“

Keith cut him off.

“Everyone thinks Allura and Shiro are together, you’re fine”

They were close, Allura and Shiro, Lance guessed it was more of a brother sister thing. He had never been that close to someone that wasn’t his sibling.

—————

Lance and Anthony did not finish their skin care in time. They finished it in the dark so that Shiro wouldn’t yell at them. 

“Can you find my moisturizer”

“Here”

Lance handed Anthony a bottle. Lance had decided not to put on a face mask like he usually did, he expected to go to the cabin.

“Didn’t you forget a step”

Anthony called to him as he stepped out of the bathroom.

“I’m skipping face mask tonight”

“Alright, not my fault if you have a pimple in the morning”

Once Anthony was done he climbed into bed, Lance shut the lights off and laid there. 

The kids fell asleep fast, Amber once again was snoring. 

The light he had seen last night peaked through the window, but didn’t go through the woods. A minute later a small tapping occurred on his window. 

Lance got out of bed and looked outside.

“Are you coming idiot”

Lance put shoes on and quietly walked outside, he cringed when the door creaked.

“I thought you told me not to come back”

“I did, but I decided to be nice today, so I decided to invite you back, you don’t have to come”

“I already got up, I was waiting for you to come get me, I knew you liked me a little”

They started to walk towards the cabin. It was muddy and really nasty, the ground squished under his feet as he walked, puddles littered the floor, and droplets of rain fell from the trees. It was quiet outside.

“I fucking hate you, I mean it”

“Sure you do, does it come from the deepest depths of your blackened heart, your hatred of me whose roots start at the moment we met, my voice, my face, the way I walk and hold my head high, when I-“

“You need to shut up, I don’t understand what you’re saying”

Lance laughed, his eyes crinkled at the corners.

“I was giving you a peice of poetry that I came up with on the spot”

“It was terrible, I hated it”

Keith opened the cabin door and tried to shut it on Lance, Lances shoulder got in the way. Lance threw himself onto the futon and looked at the ceiling, he heard the desk chair’s wheels squeak and listened to the groan of the chair as Keith sat.

“My sister likes slam poetry, she took me to a slam poetry night once and it got me into it, I’m not very good but it’s something I enjoy”

“I didn’t know you had a sister”

“Yeah, her name’s Veronica, I have two brothers too, Luis, and Marco, Luis is the one who brought me up here, I haven’t seen Veronica in a little bit though”

Keith had started scribbling on a peice of paper, he didn’t look up when he asked the question.

“She went to college and didn’t come back, she doesn’t visit on holidays or anything like that, she just stays at the apartment she bought, I don’t blame her”

Lance mumbled the last part, he didn’t think Keith would hear it.

“Are you not gonna go back once you graduate”

“Uh, I might, every once in a while, to see my mom and little cousins, but not very often”

Keith hummed, but didn’t say anything for a while.

“I think it would be nice to go back and see you’re family after you haven’t seen them for a while, I’ve never got to do that”

“Why not”

Keith didn’t answer him, Lance watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Hm, I also have a dog, his name is Bishop, my Aunt named him, she had a parrot named Bishop that died and my mom let me name him Bishop, it’s kind of weird if you ask me, but whatever”

“I’ve always wanted a dog, no one would ever get me one, I like golden doodles, I think they’re pretty cute”

“Bishop is a Doberman Pinscher, he looks pretty scary but he couldn’t hurt a fly”

It was weird how well Lance could just talk and Keith listened. With so many family members it was hard to find someone who would actually listen to him, his mom was always so busy, his siblings, though they were very loving, weren’t very helpful, and Lance would never tell his dad, who thought that emotions were a weakness, anything.

It was a nice change.

“And my brother hates our moms platanos fritos, like we get it Luis, your tastebuds are fucked up, you don’t have to remind us every minute”

“I’ve never had a plantain before”

“They’re good you should try one sometime, green plantains kind of taste like potatoes, they get sweeter as they get more ripe”

Keith yawned, he shut his eyes and stretched. His shirt rose up a bit to show his belly button.

“We wake up way too early, I tried to convince Coran to give us at least thirty minutes more to sleep in, but he would not budge no matter how much I talked to him about it”

“I agree, Coran seems like someone who gets set on one thing and then never lets it go”

“Yes, he is, it’s horrible, on the way here he talked about trees for like three hours, I was so close to strangling him, I don’t know how the fuck someone talks about trees for that long, but he did”

“You’re not too bad Keith, y’know that”

“Be quiet, you know you talk too much, it gives me a headache”

“We are not playing hush puppies again”

Keith chuckled.

“I thought it was fun, you just don’t know how to have a good time”

“Only you would call that a good time Keith”

———————————

Lance left in a good mood. Both Keith and him left the cabin laughing. It was late, almost four in the morning, Keith had to tell Lance the time.

“Shit, it’s 3:45, we need to get back”

“Yeah, probably, we need some type of sleep, I get cranky when I don’t sleep”

“Me too”

On the way back to the campgrounds they talked about which super hero was the best.

“Dick Grayson fucking sucks, isn’t he a side kick”

“He was Batman’s sidekick, then Batman dismisses him of the role of Robin, so he becomes Nightwing, and he was placed first in the sexiest male character in comics in 2013”

“Oh my god Keith, do you like him just because you think he’s hot, I like Darkstar, she’s kick ass”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“That’s not the only reason I like Nightwing, I don’t even know who Darkstar is, she sounds like a Warrior Cat”

They both laughed.

When they got to the campgrounds, they both just stood there quietly, small smiles laid on their faces.

“Thanks for tonight Keith, I needed that”

“I needed that too, it was nice not arguing with you for once”

“Yeah, I guess it was, night Keith”

“G’night Lance”

Lance had the best sleep he’s ever had that night.

——————————

Lance felt exhausted. His bed was too comfy and he didn’t want to get up. The siren blared outside. 

“Shut up, oh my god”

“I can’t control the siren, sorry”

They all groggily got up, Lance just threw on whatever, khaki shorts went with everything. They walked to the mess hall, where Hunk was already up and cooking breakfast.

“G’morning Hunk, whatcha making”

“Eggs and toast with bacon, just something simple and easy”

“That sounds nice”

Keith, who had just walked in with his campers, yawned. He looked tired, eye bags were under his eyes and he just seemed slow.

“It’s too early to be up, I need beauty sleep”

“Be quiet River”

Lance, who got his food, took the long way so he could go by Keith. He bumped his shoulder lightly, hoping it would wake Keith up a little, but was surprised when he got snapped at.

“Can you quit”

“I didn’t even do anything, calm down, damn”

“I’m not in the mood Lance”

Lance had thought they made a stepping stone to not hating each other last night but he guessed he was wrong.

“What’s wrong”

“Can you quit, be quiet, go away”

“I'm just trying to-“

Lance didn’t get to finish his sentence. All he could see was Keith’s fist, that was seconds away from hitting him in the face.


	9. If This Summer Doesn’t Kill You, I Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not as happy with this chapter as I am with my other chapters, but I don’t hate it. I’ve had a rough few days and I think my writing shows that. Oh well.

Lance didn’t have enough time to react. Keith’s fist hit him hard enough to knock him to the ground. He sat on the floor, clutching the right side of his face.

“Keith, what the hell”

A hand was on Lance’s arm, he had spots in his vision, and he felt really dizzy.

“Lance, Lance buddy are you okay”

“Why would you hit him”

Amber was yelling at Keith, if Lance could hear it, his ears were ringing, he would have enjoyed it.

After a few seconds everything became clear again and the world stopped spinning. His head throbbed worse than it ever had, he honestly felt like throwing up.

“I-I, I swear I didn’t mean to, I just reacted”

“Keith, it’s six thirty, are you serious”

Shiro, who looked more tired than Keith and Lance combined, spoke up. He looked at Keith with eyes that were narrowed into slits.

“Am I serious, you’re the one who expects me to act like this, do you remember the time when you were shocked that I didn’t get suspended my first week of high school for fighting, it was almost like I was fifteen at the time, or when I payed for my share of the apartment you were-“

“Keith quit, I’m not doing this with you this morning, just say sorry to Lance and please, just stop it, alright, you can’t do this anymore”

Keith’s face was emotionless, he swallowed hard.

“You mean you can’t do this anymore, there’s a difference Takashi”

Keith walked out of the mess hall and slammed the door behind him. Lance was handed a napkin to wipe the blood off his face. The spots had started to go away.

“Wow, we missed a lot, did you and Keith really fight, holy crap”

“Just, punched me, I think I’ll be good”

Lance stood up enough to be able to sit down at the table, the napkin was still pressed against his nose.

“Damn, your face is already swelling, he must of hit you pretty hard”

“I’ve been hit harder, I’m fine”

Pidge’s eyebrows scrunched up.

“I-I used to get in fights quite a bit when I was younger, I’m not, a very good fighter though, I would much prefer to be a lover”

Lance took the napkin away from his face and smiled. God, his face hurt, and he probably had blood in his teeth, he didn’t really care much.

“I really thought Keith and I were making progress, I guess he still hates me”

It hurt Lance a lot more than it should of, Keith hated him. He was hard to read, last night he was easy to joke with and was easy to talk to. This morning it was like a switch was flipped, it turned him into moody, mad Keith again. Lance didn’t get it.

He might never get it.

“You guys have been getting along pretty well until now, I’m sure you’ll make up”

“I hope so, I don’t want to spend all summer with someone who hates me”

Shiro brought over a frozen peice of meat for Lance to put over his eye.

“I don’t think he hates you, I just think he doesn’t like you much, I have a feeling he’ll warm up to you eventually, if he you hated you we would of had to pull him off of you”

“Thanks Shiro, that’s very reassuring”

“He can be a bit of a handful, but he’s usually pretty good, I’m really surprised he punched you, Keith hasn’t got into a fight in a long time”

Ike tugged on Shiro’s pant leg, Shiro knelt down to heat Ike.

“Should I go after him”

“I think he needs a little time alone for now, if he’s not back in an hour then you you can go get him, alright”

They finished eating breakfast, Keith had come back midway through and sat at a table by himself. Lance’s eye was swollen and the meat Shiro had brought him had already been placed back in the freezer.

“What should we do today”

“I found dodgeballs in this kind of shady shed, we could do that”

That was a bad idea. They had people who were in college and could throw hard, going against preteens and Ike. At least Keith and Lance only threw hard at each other. 

“Someone’s gonna get hurt, you two quiet throwing so hard”

Shiro, who was sitting on the side lines, shouted it. He winced as another ball hit the backstop and rolled back.

One eventually hit Lance, the ball hit him in the side, he winced as it hit him. After Lance was out, Keith calmed down again. Lance could feel the bruise that was forming on his side.

He gets more bruises, god Keith could throw hard, at least he was never hit in the face. 

“Are you good Lance, you seem a little, out of it I guess”

“What, yeah, I’m good”

He really wasn’t. He was good enough. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Keith, or the bruises. He knew the bruises would fade, but Keith might never stop hating him. He didn’t know if he could deal with that.

“Maybe you should talk, like adults, and try to solve your problem”

“Every time we talk we end up fighting, I don’t want that”

That wasn’t the truth, they got together well last night. The conversation had been on loop in Lances head. He wished it would leave.

“I’m sure if you tried to talk to him, he would listen, I can tell he’s upset about it, you probably can’t, he doesn’t hate you, he doesn’t know how to apologize”

“I can probably talk to him, but what’ll it take to get him to listen”

Shiro shrugged his shoulders.

“I really don’t know, jailbreak”

After dodgeball the kids made Keith and Lance sit at a table and look at each other.

“Now, you guys have been fighting for sometime and we talked a little bit”

“When”

“When you two weren’t paying attention, anyway, we think that you two are being dumbasses”

“Watch your language River”

River looked at Shiro.

“Can people please quit interrupting me, thank you, we think you’re being stupid, and should just apologize to each other”

“I didn’t do anything, Keith’s the one who hit me, why do I have to apologize”

River rolled her eyes.

“You did something that upset Karter, I don’t care what that is, but it upset him, he punched you, so you should both apologize, and put this behind you”

“I’m not apologizing”

River turned to Shiro.

“That’s all I had, I’m not a therapist, I told you that, that’s the best I can do, sorry”

“I think you guys are being childish”

Anthony said it with a mouth full of food. Hunk sat next to him, looking the same.

“I agree, there’s no reason you guys should be so mad at each other, I think you guys could really get along, but stupid things like your fight are pushing that back”

Ruth smiled at them and shrugged her shoulders. Lance pressed his fingers to the bruises he had from dodgeball. Lance thought that too. Keith, who rolled his eyes, obviously didn’t think the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be from Keith’s POV again. I’m also excited to write chapters eleven and twelve, I feel like I’ll get those out fast.
> 
> The chapter name is inspired by a song called, If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will by PUP. I’ve been listening to it on repeat and just decided to use it as inspiration for a chapter title.


	10. Two Peas Outside the Pod

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Keith’s POV again. It’s a little all over the place but it’s okay. I’m really excited to start writing the next chapter. This chapter is pretty laid back. Enjoy :).

He was mad at himself.

Keith never learned how to control his anger, instead of being taken to anger management classes, or have someone sit down and talk to him about it, he just got punished for it. That’s how it always was.

He honestly hadn’t meant to hit Lance, and he didn’t know what possessed him to do so either. He watched Lance clutch the right side of his face, he looked down at his fist, that was bloody from Lance's nose. Then he left.

It was risky going to the cabin at this time. He hoped no one would go after him. He couldn’t be here, and the only other place to go was the cabin. 

He ran there, as fast as his legs could carry him. He definitely didn’t cry on the way there either. It wasn’t like they were friends, Keith wasn’t going to cry over someone that didn’t like him. Not even a single tear.

It was too quiet in the cabin. He just laid on the futon and stared at the ceiling. He tried not to let tears fall, tried to hold them back, they fell anyway. He cried for a bit. Then he came back to campgrounds, his eyes puffy and slightly drunk.

At least no one noticed. 

When he came back they were playing dodgeball, it’s not something Keith wanted to do, but he did it anyway. 

He threw a lot harder than he should have, Lance would probably bruise. Keith should say sorry, he couldn’t do it through. Along with a bruise on his face, he gave Lance bruises on the rest of his body. Why was he such an ass? 

The cabin. His safe place for the summer, where he went to be alone, wasn’t the same without Lance. The desk that Lance usually sat at, looked out of place. Even though Lance had only been there twice and Keith had been there a lot more than that, it didn’t feel right without Lance. He was gonna have to figure out how to apologize.

“Fuck”

He hated saying sorry.

He knows he should. Lance shouldn’t accept the apology though, why would he, it was stupid to apologize to someone who wasn’t going to accept the apology. So why do it? Lance seemed forgiving and understanding though, he didn’t seem like someone to hold a grudge. 

He was going to apologize.

He felt really shitty, his actions weighed him down. He felt slow too. Ike was waiting for him on the steps to the mess hall.

“Hey buddy”

He ruffled Ike’s hair, Ike smiled at him.

“Where’d you go, Shiro told me not to go after you”

He was proud of Ike, Ike used to whisper everything to him, now he was quiet, but Keith didn’t have to get too close to him to hear. It was an improvement.

“I just went for a walk, I needed some time to think”

“Oh, well okay, you’re back now, you should eat”

Lance had a frozen piece of meat on his eye, it was probably already swollen too. Keith’s stomach sank, he wasn’t hungry.

“I’m not hungry Ike, I’ll eat dinner, alright”

“It’s important for you to eat every meal”

“I’m kind of sick to my stomach Ike”

There was no point in lying to him. Ike wasn’t stupid.

“Well, make sure you eat dinner then”

Keith sat at the table where the kids were, Reznor and River were arguing about something.

“You can’t just not go to school Rez, you have to go, it’s required by the state, did you know Reznor and I live close to each other, both in Florida, just a county over, isn’t that crazy”

“Our schools are rivals”

Keith nodded his head. 

“I’m glad you guys are getting along”

“Okay, anyway like I was saying, you guys are definitely going to beat us this year in football, our quarterback left and we have to get someone else, I think it’s gonna be a freshman, but it’s not gonna go good”

“I don’t know, I think our quarterback was Tucker Wholmen, and he got arrested for possession of child pornography”

Keith stopped listening after that. 

It was too hot outside, it was a good thing they had the lake.

Ike couldn’t swim, so Keith sat on the bank with him. His legs were pasty white and he could feel the sun bearing down on him, just his feet in the water didn’t do much.

“You’re really quiet”

“So are you”

“No, more than normal”

Keith was always pretty quiet, he didn’t understand what Ike was getting at.

“I don’t get what you mean”

River had come and sat with them, she looked at Ike with big eyes he just nodded. Looking at the water Reznor was looking at them also.

“I mean you’re always pretty quiet, you don’t really say much, but you usually talk to us a bit more, and you’ve kept to yourself a lot lately, we were just wondering if you were okay, Rez too, he’s supposed to be up here, why aren’t you up here”

“I’m fine”

River sighed.

“You look tired, like you haven’t been sleeping, you also left for like an hour and left us without a counselor, I just think it’s good to talk about your feelings; was that good”

Keith watched Ike give River a thumbs up.

“I don’t have feelings”

“Okay sociopath, but really we’re here to listen”

“I’m fine”

River got really serious all of the sudden.

“Okay shut up and listen to me, I’ve never cared about anymore more than I care you about you idiots okay, you’ve grown on me congrats, it’s annoying me that you’re in a bad mood and it’s putting me in a bad mood, so if we can fix your problem with Lloyd, or whatever his name is, and get regular, not as moody Keith back, I’d really appreciate it”

Reznor almost smiled.

“Aah, you don’t actually hate us, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said River”

River glared at Reznor. 

“Be quiet Robert”

“You said my name earlier”

River ignored it.

“Just say you’re sorry, we’ll go with you if you want, we think it’ll help your mood and obviously your relationship with Luke ”

Keith looked back down at the water, Lance had splashed Anthony, Anthony shreaked and ducked under water. Keith felt weird.

“I don’t know how”

“What”

“I’m bad with words, I don’t say sorry to people”

River face palmed.

“Are you being serious, oh my god, okay, before lights out, we’ll come up with a plan for you to apologize to Lenonard, then we’ll go through with that plan okay, sounds great”

Lights out came way too fast.

“This is a horrible plan”

“I think going somewhere no one else is and then saying sorry is a great plan, you make everything so fucking complicated”

“Watch your mouth River”

River scoffed.

“Well you don’t have a plan, and you’re too embarrassed to say sorry for some reason, you’ve been acting weird, you need to say sorry, so just saying sorry in front of Lance, to Lance, is pretty good plan to me”

It was a pretty good plan.

“I just-“

“No, Keith, you need to say sorry, okay, just tell him you’re sorry, you are sorry, right”

“Yes, but-“

“Just say that, okay, quit making everything so complicated”

Keith was making this really complicated wasn’t he.

“I’ll say sorry okay, I’m just, confused, I’m not acting like myself”

“What’d you mean”

“I don’t know Rez, I’m usually more put together than this, but I’m all over the place, I don’t know”

River looked at him from her bunk.

“You don’t have to know anything to say sorry, okay, just please, we know that you’ll mean it, just tell him, I’m sorry, go ahead, practice”

“I’m sorry”

Reznor hummed.

“A little more sincere”

“Because you know so much about emotion, I’m sorry, was that better”

“Yeah”

River smiled at him.

“I think Lance will forgive you, you’re not a bad person Kane”

“You called me Keith earlier”

River laughed.

“I definitely did not, good night Kolten”


	11. The Fall of Two Peasants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I like Shakespeare, and Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorites. I’m pretty excited to write about the next chapter too and the chapter after that. I’m glad that I haven’t fell into a writing slump, I was worried that was gonna happen with school starting. I really don’t think that’s gonna happen any time soon, so I’m just gonna continue writing. I hope you enjoy!

Apparently it rained again, Keith decided not to go to the cabin last night. The kids had talked to each other after lights out, and Reznor didn’t fall asleep till three, what was the point of going.

“You do know that we have to get up at six right, it’s been like that everyday Rez”

“Yeah, I know, I can’t sleep”

“You haven’t tried to sleep, you’ve just been talking the whole time”

“Warm milk helped me when I was little”

Reznor told him that he had trouble sleeping a lot. Keith’s breath hitched, that probably meant that he had seen, or heard Keith leaving. He had never said anything though. So maybe not.

He took Reznor to the kitchen and warmed up a glass of milk for him. He waited with his arms crossed for Reznor to finish the glass, then made him clean it. 

“Will you fall asleep now”

“I hope so, I feel more tired”

Keith yawned and nodded his head.

“Kay, g’night Rez”

Keith stared out the window, at the lamppost he stood at to wait for Lance last night. He could still see his footprints that had imprinted themselves in what used to be mud, now dirt. The lights outside flickered and crickets chirped as Keith fell into a restless sleep.

——————————————

Lance woke up on the floor. The pain in his lower back became more present as he sat up and stretched. His skin, that had been going through it the last few days, he hadn’t been putting anything on it, burned slightly.

The siren lasted for ten minutes everyday. Lance wasn’t sure why, it just playing for two minutes was more than enough, especially since it was right outside of the blue cabin door. 

“Why the hell are you on the floor”

Amber, who sounded groggy, was looking down at Lance from her bunk.

“I don’t know, but my back hurts”

Lance waited for the kids to get ready before he got his turn in the bathroom. He should have gone before Anthony honestly, he hated waiting for the bathroom.

“Hurry up Anthony, I have to pee”

“I asked if you had to go to the bathroom before I came in here, that sounds like a you problem, go pee in a bush or something”

Lance eventually kicked Anthony out of the bathroom. He also didn’t let Anthony finish his skin care.

“We need to go, or we won’t get breakfast, and I’m starving”

“I am too, I’m not trying to wait till lunch to eat my first meal of the day either”

Charlotte’s stomach audibly rumbled.

“I’m sure you’ll get something even if we are late, but Amber and Charlotte are right, lets go children, a new day, and an ugly day, we’ll probably be inside again”

“Inside isn’t horrible, the last time was kind of boring though”

“Throwing cotton balls was fun though”

Amber always looked for the bright side of things. 

“Cleaning them up was not”

Hunk had made waffles, Lances wasn’t a fan of plain waffles, his mom always put fruit on them. She grew strawberries and bananas in their backyard. Lance's favorite part of the day was going out to pick her fruit for her before she got up, her face would always light up, she would smile and say, “Corazoncito”. He missed times like that.

Anthony was stuffing his waffle into his mouth when he asked what they were gonna do that day.

“Chew your food before you talk, I don’t have any ideas”

“I also don’t have a plan for today, we can do anything really, as long as we have the things for it”

Shiro seemed like he was in a good mood. That was nice, especially since he had seemed really down the last few days.

“Ooh, I have an idea”

——————————

Lance didn’t know what he expected when Anthony said he had an idea for what to do today, but he didn’t expect to be looking in the supply closet for things they could use as props for a play.

“What are we looking for”

“Anything for costumes, or for the set, or anything we can use really, like this”

Anthony pulled out a red cape.

“Why are there things in here that actually fit with the play, I don’t know if we should wear these, what if someone died in these and now they’re just stuffed in this closet”

“That’s the question you’re asking, I would be asking why whoever gets to play Juliet has to where the ugliest shirt I’ve ever seen, look at this thing, it looks like a bed sheet”

They brought the things they found out and moved some of the tables so they could set up the set. A box full of the costumes and some of the props sat on a table.

“I have to wear this”

River picked up the blouse, held it at a distance, and examined it. Her nose scrunched up.

“If you’re gonna be Juliet, then yes”

“There is nothing better in there, this is it”

“Sadly yes, I get a nice outfit though”

Romeo’s outfit was really nice, and of course Anthony would wear it. The pants were a tan color, it came with a blue belt, the shirt was almost black, with dark green leaves covering it, a red cape and a small satchel finished off the outfit. It was really nice.

Lance handed Reznor a greenish jacket and a white, puffy shirt.

“You can be Benvolio, I think it’s a good fit”

“Why”

“I just think you’d make a good Benvolio”

Lance picked the hat box and opened it, he had seen the movie plenty of times, he knew immediately who he wanted to wear the hat.

“Keith, you get Tybalt”

He placed the hat in Keith’s hands.

“I am not wearing this”

“Why not, I think it fits you perfectly, plus if you play Tybalt, you get to kill me later”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“I guess I’ll stick with the stupid hat then”

Lance gave the role of Nurse to Amber, he thought she fit the role really well, even though she didn’t like River much, she was still very caring and looked after everyone in Blue Cabin. She could act like she liked River. Charlotte, who got Lady Capulet, wasn’t very happy, neither was Desma who got Nurse.

Lance handed out scripts that he had Allura print out for them.

“Where’d you get these”

Lance looked up at Keith and laughed, he looked ridiculous in the hat.

“I had Allura print them off for us”

“Quit laughing at me asshole”

“Keith, there is no need to fight with him, I’m tired of hearing you yell all the time, and you look stupid in the hat, so just shut up”

River was surprisingly good at keeping Keith calm. Keith rolled his eyes and huffed, that was the end of the argument.

They went through the beginning, Allura read the narrator parts and everyone else read their lines. It was going surprisingly well. Anthony was really into it, he put so much emotion into his lines and his expressions were spot on. Charlotte was a little huffy, she didn’t want Lady Capulet.

“I want to stab someone with a sword”

She didn’t get Tybalt or Romeo, so she was kind of upset. Keith complained that he had too many lines.

“Stay in character”

Anthony whispered.

They had just started act three scene one, one of Lance’s favorite scenes.

“I pray thee, good Mercutio, lets retire: the day is hot, the Capulets aboard, and if we meet, we shall not scrape a brawl: for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring; what does that mean”

“Hush, quit asking that every time you say a line Rez; Thou art like one of those fellows that when he enters the confines of a tavern claps me with his sword upon the table and says ‘God send me no need of thee!’ and by the operation of the second cup draws it on the drawer, then indeed there is no need”

Reznor did not make a good Benvolio.

“Am I such a follower”

After quite a while, Reznor read really slow, they finally got to the part where Keith entered.

“Follow me close, for I will speak to them. Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you”

Keith surprisingly delivered his lines very well. 

“And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow

Lance expected Keith to be really bad. He felt a little jealous that Keith was actually really good. He expected Anthony to be really good.

“I do protest, I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst device, till thou shalt know the reason of my love: and so, good Capulet- which name I tender as dearly as my own-, be satisfied”

Lance had been waiting for this moment. He drew the sword that sat on his hip, it was light and probably couldn’t even kill a fly, out he still felt powerful.

“O calm, dishonorable, vile submission! Alla stoccata carries it away”

Lance smirked.

“Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk”

Keith’s smirk was more wicked than Lance’s.

“What wouldst thou have with me”

“Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives”

They delivered the rest of their lines quickly, not really caring what they were, Keith had even messed up a few.

They finally got to the part where they fought. Both Keith and Lance hit each other with the foam swords as hard as they could. Every once in a while one of them would miss, but most of the time they both got hits. They ended up laughing.

“Can you two quit hitting each other with the swords and let me interfere so we can kill Mercutio already”

They eventually stopped and continued with the play.

River did an amazing job at being dramatic in the scene Juliet learns that Mercutio is dead, Desma also does a really good job at being over dramatic. 

A few hours later they finished the play, Coran played Paris, and was very dramatic when Paris died. Anthony struggled to put Coran in the makeshift coffin they had made, but eventually managed. 

“Here’s to my love”

Anthony drank the water they had put in a cup.

“O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die”

River broke character.

“I’ll say it again, if you kiss me, I will hit you”

“I didn’t want to anyway, don’t kiss me either”

Anthony also died very dramatically, it was more dramatic than Coran’s death.

River made stabbing herself look real, her second death was better than the first one. They held the funeral and Coran ended the play with his last line.

Allura, Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, and everyone else who was either dead or wasn’t in the play, clapped. Those who were in it got back up front as they bowed.

“That wasn’t as bad I thought it was gonna be, I’m actually pretty impressed, good idea Anthony, you guys looked like you had fun”

“I think my favorite was seeing Keith in this stupid outfit”

“I think my favorite part was getting to stab you, then I didn’t have to hear you talk for the rest of the time”

Lance scoffed.

“I don’t even talk that much, you idiot”

“I’m not so sure about that”

Keith smiled at him. Then quit when he noticed other people were looking at them. Lance didn’t know if they were still fighting, they probably were. Neither of them had said sorry, and they hadn’t really talked until today. Lance was gonna assume they still weren’t friends.

The good feeling he felt from the play was still there, but it had started to go away with the thought that Keith still didn’t like him, Lance still didn’t know why that mattered so much to him. 

He really hoped he figured it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve ever watched the Romeo and Juliet movie, the 1968 one that doesn’t have Leonardo DiCaprio, you know how ridiculous Tybalt’s outfit is. If not you can just look it up. I could not stop thinking about Keith wearing that, so I had to put him in it. You’re welcome.


	12. Heliophobic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heliophobic is the fear of the sun. The more you know. This chapter is also about Reznor, enjoy.

The day was hot, the sun was beating down on them, it was around ninety outside, which Lance wasn’t really used to. Sweat ran from his forehead, the ground had completely dried, and was now kind of hard. 

“There is no way that hit your foot”

“I say it’s a pretty good save, how about you Charlotte”

“It looked like the ball touched his foot to me”

Lance was horrible at volleyball, sand volleyball added sand, which made jumping harder. He was somehow worse at sand volleyball, Lance didn’t think that was possible.

Keith rolled the ball under the net for them to serve. Frances had teamed up with Keith. She kept going on about something called Haikyuu. Lance didn’t know what that was, but Keith understood what she was saying. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a float server like Oikawa, but I could never figure it out”

“Once you figure it out the first time it gets pretty easy, I don’t really know how to explain it, I’ll try to show you next serve”

Keith flawlessly returned the ball that Lance served over the net, Amber tried to hit it back over, but failed. Lance rolled the ball back over.

“You have to get your timing down that’s important, same foot same leg, right left right then up, elbow up, palm facing where you want the ball to go, it’s a lot less complicated than you think”

Keith did the serve again, he jumped in the air, his chest expanded as he pulled his arm back, his hand came forward and made contact with the ball. Lance touched the ball once, but it didn’t make it back over.

“See, not that hard, it might take a few times to get it down, but it’s simple enough, at least I think so”

Lance’s forearms stung, he rubbed them with his hands and glared at Keith.

“What the hell Keith”

“What, that serve wasn’t that hard, you could hit it back over easily”

“No I couldn’t of, what the hell”

Keith laughed.

“I was going easy on you Lance”

His smirk was almost feral looking. A shiver ran down Lance’s spine.

“By trying to kill me you were going easy”

“If I was trying to kill you, I would have aimed for your head”

Charlotte cleared her throat from behind Lance.

“Uhm, can you two quit, nobody is gonna kill anybody today”

Lance glanced to his left, Anthony and Ike were playing hopscotch with Pidge. Reznor was sitting by himself under a tree.

Keith glanced behind him to see where Lance was looking.

“Rez likes to be by himself, I still feel bad that no one is sitting with him though, I know the feeling”

“Yeah, I might go over there in a few serves”

Keith nodded and turned the ball in his hand. As he jumped his black shorts came up to reveal a glimpse of pasty thighs. His hand came down on the ball, but it didn’t go to Lance as hard as last time.

Lance effortlessly returned the ball. Frances set the ball. Keith spikes it harder this time. It hits the ground and leaves a round mark in the sand. 

“You’re pretty good Keith”

“I'm pretty good, I played with some kids in college, one of them plays for Russia now, they’re pretty good, I’m just average”

Charlotte tossed the ball to Keith, who handed it to Frances. Her serve was a lot softer than Keith’s, Lance was able to receive it, Frances set the ball and Keith spiked it again. Neither Charlotte or Lance was able to touch it. 

That’s how pretty much the whole game went, Keith had started to go easier when the score was twenty to zero. Lance noticed Keith stopped really paying attention, he hasn’t said anything for a while and he seemed to be just going through the motions.

“Are you good”

“Me, yeah, it’s just Rez, it’s nothing”

Reznor has been sitting by himself under a tree the whole time, knees were tucked to his chest and his chin sat on his knees. His face had no emotion on it.

“What’s up with him”

“He’s just, super quite, I mean more than he usually is, this morning he didn’t eat breakfast either, he’s just being different I guess”

“Oh, did you ask him what’s up”

“He’s a teenager, he just said I’m okay, even if he’s not okay that’s what he’s gonna say, you’ve been a teenager before Lance”

Lance rolled his eyes at River.

“Trust me, with enough pestering you can get something out of a teenager, my mom did it to me all the time when I was your age, I’ll go talk to him”

He jogged towards the tree and sat down by Reznor. Reznor broight his head up and looked up.

“What are you doing Rez”

“Sitting in the shade”

“You could go do something, talk with someone, you can join our game of volleyball if you want, you can play hopscotch with Ike, I’m sure someone will let you play with them”

Reznor shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess, I like the shade, the sun is too hot”

“I mean yeah, but you get used to it, you might sunburn but we have sunscreen”

Reznor shrugged.

“I don’t know, I just like staying away from people, so they won’t think I’m weird, I guess”

“You’re not weird, why would you think that”

“People say that I’m weird all the time, so I guess I am”

Lance sighed.

“People used to call me weird too, I wore these stripped socks everyday at school, kids would beat me up for it, isn’t that stupid, for my socks, people are just mean, especially teenagers, you just can’t let it get to you”

“I guess”

“You’ve probably heard that before but it’s true, it’s makes people feel better when they make fun of others, it’s sad but that’s how it is”

Reznor was looking at the ground, he picked a blade of grass out of the ground then threw it back down.

“The world is unfair isn’t it”

“Sadly, yes but we can still see the bright side of it, name something good that’s happened this year, anything”

“I finally got the tarantula that I’ve been asking for since I was eleven, her name is Muffet”

Lance smiled at him.

“See that’s a, positive, sometime you have to look for the little things, a bunch of little things can add up, then you have a bunch of little things, even if people find you weird, there will always be people who don’t think that, instead of thinking about the people who hate you, thing about the people who don’t hate you”

“That’s good, I’ll try that, River has been nicer lately”

“That’s good, I’m surprised she has a nice bone in her body”

The corner of Reznor's mouth turned upward.

“Me too, she can be sweet at times”

“How much do you hate getting sunburnt Rez”

Reznor looked at Lance funny.

“Quite a bit, why”

“To get your mind off of it, I was gonna teach you how to play volleyball”

Keith hadn’t quit looking over there since Lance had walk towards Reznor.

“Going over there will also stop Keith from staring at us, I swear he’s obsessed with me”

Reznor laughed at that, it brought a smile to Reznor's lips.

Lance helped Reznor stand. They slowly walked over to the volleyball net.

“You’re back, ready to get your ass whooped”

“Watch your mouth Kenneth, there are children present”

Lance showed Reznor how to hit a volleyball. On the next serve Keith hit it to him, Reznor made it over the net. Frances set it and Keith spiked the ball. It hit Lance right in the face and sent him flying backwards.

“Can you quit hitting me”

“That one was a complete accident, I swear”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will also be out pretty soon (I hope). If I keep writing like I am, I should be good. I also have to write a story for English though so.


	13. Fine, Great

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t really have anything to say, I have a game today though! (we lost that wasn’t surprising).

The summer days were honestly too long. The bright sun was in the sky a lot longer than Lance wanted it to be, at least today. He felt groggy for some reason, especially after his talk with Rez.

He missed the cabin and, even if he didn’t want to admit it, Keith.

Keith seemed more down too. His nose bled from getting hit, dried blood stuck to his face. Lance's black eye had mostly faded, you could still see it though, in two or three days it would be gone. He would be glad when he couldn’t see it anymore.

“We’re gonna walk the little trail by the shower house before dinner, you don’t have to go but, I just thought it would be nice, Amber saw it so, we just thought we’d go”

“Who’s all going”

The sun had started to set. Orange, pink, and yellow spanned across the sky. Yellow tinted clouds slowly rolled by. It was beautiful.

“Us kids, Pidge, Hunk said he would go but he has to finish cooking so, Coran is going, Keith, Shiro is gonna help Hunk, I looked for Allura but couldn’t find her so, that’s it, it’s okay if you don’t”

“No, no, I’ll go, it sounds nice”

Charlotte offered Lance her hand, Lance took it and dusted off his shorts when he was on his feet. He felt so tired, his legs moved slow and his knees cracked.

“You’re usually so energetic, you should try to sleep more maybe, I guess everyone has their off days though”

“Yeah, I’m definitely feeling tired today, I’ll make sure I get a good night's sleep tonight”

Amber nodded and led him to the path, everyone else was already there. Keith, who had been wearing shorts earlier today, was now wearing sweatpants. Ike and River had also put on pants.

“Glad to see you’ve decided to join us Lance”

“I like trekking through the woods, so I decided why not”

Ruth knew a surprising amount of facts about trees.

“There are more than sixty thousand known species of trees, and a large oak tree, what most of these trees are, can drop around ten thousand acorns a year”

“That’s interesting”

“Yeah, I guess”

Keith had picked up Ike about a forth of the way through the trail. He softly snored.

“I guess today wore Ike out”

Keith whispered it , it barely caught Lance's ear.

“Yeah, I’m pretty wore out too”

“I was talking to myself Lance”

Pidge laughed softly.

“Well sorry I had something to say”

“What’s new”

Keith sounded exhausted, he looked it too. You could see his eye bags from a mile away. Lance didn’t respond.

“That’s a cicada, as babies they can survive huge falls”

Lance just kept walking.

——————————

“Okay we need a plan, I’m actually tired of seeing Keith act stupid”

Everyone but Keith and Lance stood around a table, Shiro had given both of the tasks, Keith was chopping firewood, and Lance was picking up sticks. They would do that long enough for them to talk, hopefully.

“We have to get them somewhere they’ll talk, like stuck in or something, they can’t have a way out”

“Charlotte what, it’s rude to lock people in things”

Charlotte shrugged.

“They won’t talk if we just sit them down here, if we get them somewhere they have to be together, then one of them will eventually say something to the other, and hopefully it will be good, and they’ll stop hating each other”

“This is a terrible plan”

Hunk had just joined them, he wiped his hands on his apron.

“Keith isn’t good with words, he never has been, and he’s stubborn, he’s not gonna say sorry unless he really wants to”

“It’s not like Keith actually hates Lance”

River chimed in from her spot on the floor.

“It’s literally the opposite, he cares about Lance and he’s upset with himself that he hit him, he’s just a dumbass and won’t just say sorry”

“It’s obvious Keith doesn’t hate Lance”

Shiro rubbed his elbow with his prosthetic hand.

“And Rivers right, Keith is bad at apologizing, it’s not a good idea to lock them in the closet together though, what if Keith hits Lance again”

“He’s not going to”

Reznor rolled his eyes at Shiro.

“Like River said, he didn’t want to hit Lance, but it happened, he feels bad but can’t say sorry, I think it’s worth a shot to get them back on actual talking terms, and if it fails in the end we can try something else”

“Thank you Rez”

Reznor nodded at River, he even gave her a small smile.

“If we can just get them to talk everything will be fine, they were getting along yesterday, kind of, most of the day”

“There’s a supply closet over there, I can fit three people so it’ll work”

Allura turned to Shiro.

“You can’t seriously be in on this”

“If it stops Keith from being moody, then I’ll be happy”

River smiled at Shiro.

“It’s settled then, we can lock them in when they get back in here, what are we gonna say”

Charlotte smiled.

“That’s easy, tell them that the other one is in the closet”

Shiro laughed.

“I’m sure Keith will enjoy going back in the closet”

Anthony laughed at Shiro, Charlotte’s eyebrows scrunched up.

“What, I don’t get it”

———————————————

“Why would Keith be in the supply closet, and why does it matter that I know he’s there”

“He’s not there, at least I don’t think so”

Anthony, Amber, and Charlotte all nervously smiled at Lance. They really thought that telling Lance about Keith being in there would make him want to go in. At least Anthony was pretty good at inprov.

“Coran asked for paper towels and they’re in the supply closet, I can’t reached them, but you’re tall so you can, can you please get them for Coran”

“Alright, you guys are being weird, I’ll be right back”

They watched Lance go into the mess hall, they all creeped behind him until he got in the closet.

“Keith what are you doing in here”

“I’m getting paper towels for Coran, what are you-“

“I’m getting paper towels for Coran, what do you mean you’re-“

The door slammed behind Lance, both him and Keith jumped out of their skin.

“What the fuck”

Keith walked over to the door and put his hand on the door knob, he tried to pull down, but the knob didn’t budge.

“Charlotte, Anthony, Amber, open the door”

“No, you two are gonna talk out your differences, and become friends again”

“We were never really friends, we argue like twenty four seven”

Keith wasn’t one hundred percent correct, they got along when they were at the cabin, he guessed Keith didn’t want people to know about that.

“Just talk about your differences and we’ll let you out”

Keith glared at Lance and didn’t say anything. From the other side of the door they heard a whisper.

“They aren’t saying anything”

“Just give them a minute”

“I’m not talking to you”

Keith was stubborn, he always had been. It was a big flaw of his.

“Okay”

They sit in silence for a few more minutes before Lance finally decides that he’s had enough of sitting in silence and that he’s had enough of Keith hating him. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pissed you off, I knew you were gonna be tired that morning and you are kinda moody all the time, I should of left you alone, again, I’m sorry”

He watched Keith’s jaw clench in the dim lighting of the closet.

“You didn’t even do anything Lance, I, I’m the one who should apologize Ilya, and it’s taken me way too long to do this but, I’m, I’m sorry, it’s okay if you don’t accept it right now, but I don’t want you to hate me any more”

“I thought you said you weren’t gonna talk to me”

Keith glared.

“Okay okay, but seriously, I’ve never hated you Keith, I’m just confused I guess, we got along so well then you just, randomly hit me”

From the other side of the door they heard a small.

“Holy shit they’re actually talking”

“Watch your mouth River”

Followed.

“When I get tired I tend to get moody, and I don’t know how to voice my feelings, I guess, I don’t know”

“He’s always moody though”

Keith glanced towards the door.

“River, shut the hell up”

Lance laughed.

“So you don’t hate me, and there’s no reason either of us shouldn’t be talking to the other”

“Correct”

Lance smiled at Keith. His heart felt funny, it kind of hurt.

“We’re fucking stupid Keith”

“Maybe you are, I’m not stupid”

Lance’s smile got wider.

“What, don’t look at me like that”

He threw his arms around Keith, Keith groaned and tried to shove him off. Lance tightened his hold on Keith, Keith eventually sagged and let Lance hug him.

“I take back what I said, I do hate you, so much, I’ve never hated anything more”

Lance bursted into laughter, tears formed by his eyes. Lance held Keith at arms length and looked up at him.

“Since we don’t hate each other anymore does that mean I can come back to the cabin”

“I never told you to stop coming, I waited for you the day after we fought, but you didn’t come, I never kicked you out”

It was warm in the closet.

“I saw you waiting, I didn’t want to fight at the cabin though, I also thought you hated me, so I didn’t go”

“It hasn’t been the same without you, it’s been too quiet”

“It had always been quiet”

It was Keith’s turn to laugh.

“No where you are is quiet Lance”

——————————

“I’m surprised that worked”

Everyone looked at Charlotte.

“What, I’m being serious, I thought they were gonna kill each other, it’s good they’re still both here though”

They both walked out with small smiles on their faces. River arched her eyebrow.

“Ah, congrats Keith, we expect you for who you are”

“River shut up”

Ike giggled. Shiro tried to hold in his laughter, but failed.

“She told Ike and I she was gonna say that after we made the plan to lock you guys in here, I thought it was pretty good”

“You two are stupid”

Reznor showed the most emotion on his face that Lance had ever seen, Rivers face was also shocked.

“Look who’s talking idiot, you didn’t even know how to say sorry”

Everyone laughed at Reznor's retort.

————————————

Lance had been waiting for that night. He was a lot more excited than he let himself show. He looked out the window and saw Keith waiting for him.

As quiet as he could, he raced out of the cabin and headed towards Keith.

“Took you long enough, I was about to leave you”

“Charlotte takes forever to fall asleep, she just talks and talks until she falls asleep, it’s horrible”

Keith laughed and started to head towards the path.

“Just tell her to go to sleep, that’s what I do”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t listen”

“You have little cousins Lance, do what you do with them, or just turn off the lights”

Lance groaned.

“She still talks with the lights off, she’s wonderful, really, but she can be kind of annoying at times”

They walked to the cabin, but instead of pulling out the key, Keith headed towards the back of the house.

“Where are we going”

Keith didn’t respond and kept walking.

“Are you finally gonna kill me, the kids will notice I’m gone you know”

Keith just laughed and kept walking.

Eventually they came to a clearing. Keith sat down in the grass and looked towards Lance.

“If I was gonna kill you I wouldn’t do it in such a pretty place, I would stuff you in a trash can”

Keith patted the ground next to him. Lance hesitantly sat down.

Keith laid down and stretched his arms above his head, he took a big breath and let it out. He stretched his arm to the sky.

“There’s Canis Major, or the Great Dog”

Keith moved his arm over and traced another line in the sky.

“And there’s Ursa Major, or the Great Bear”

“How do you know all these”

“Matt taught them to Shiro, and Shiro taught them to me”

Lance smiled at that.

“Matt’s up there right now, I couldn’t stand space, it’s completely silent, there’s no sound, I don’t like the quiet”

Lance had honestly never heard Keith talk this much, he went on and on about space. Lance just stared at him as he spoke, his eyes were soft, he looked nice with a smile on his face.

Lance fell asleep listening to Keith and the sound of cicadas around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody hear about the Voltron movie? I doubt it’s real, but I’m probably not gonna watch it if it is, I really think it’s fake. Yeah, I saw that today and thought I was having a stroke. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed! (I looked it up and the concept is from like 2018, why am I just finding out about it now?)


	14. So Close but So Far Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I’m back!! I’m sorry this took so long, I took a little break. I’ve been busy with softball, I also have the PSAT coming up, so I’ve been studying for that. I’m kind of stressed right now. I plan to get back on schedule for writing though! Enjoy!

Lance hit the ground kind of hard, he landed on his shoulder.

“Lance, get up, we have to go”

“Why’d yah drop me on the floor”

“Because you wouldn’t wake up when I shook you, I only woke you up because we have to go, you look exhausted”

Lance stretched and groaned. A yawn fell from his lips.

“Carry me”

“I’m not gonna carry you, get your ass up”

“Kenneth”

Lance hated sounding whiny, it always got on his nerves when other people did it, especially his neices, and nefews. At the moment he didn’t really care though, he barely even understood what Keith was saying.

“Lance Diego McClain”

“It’s Charles”

Keith tried to stifle a laugh, but ended up failing miserably. His eyes crinkled at the corners, they were pulled into thin slits, a large smile was stretched across his lips, small tears fell from his eyes.

“I like my middle name, my mother gave it to me”

“It’s alright I guess, my name used to be Yorak before I convinced Shiro to let me get it legally changed to Keith”

It was Lances turn to laugh.

“You picked Keith out of all names”

“The nuns at the orphanage just called me Keith, they told me before I left that my actual name was Yorak, I had no clue til I left to go to school and I needed my birth certificate to get my drivers liscense”

“They didn’t tell you, that’s embarrassing, I’m gonna call you Yorak now”

Keith chuckled.

“You better not, I got it changed for a reason you asshole”

“Ah, Yorak Kogane, I think it has a nice ring to it”

Keith full on laughed.

“That sounds stupid, don’t fucking call me that”

Keith’s eyes lit up when he laughed, like the stars above them and the sun when it rose in the morning; Lance felt sick to his stomach.

“Why”

Lance’s voice was shaky, he hoped Keith didn’t notice.

“I really think you look like a Yorak, I don’t know, I really think it fits you”

“Shut the fuck up, dumbass”

He liked happy, laughing Keith, it made Lance happy too. That’s what the feeling in the bottom of his stomach was, and why his heart was pounding against his rib cage. He was happy.

“I have never shut up in my entire life Yorak, what makes you think I’m gonna start now”

Keith rolled his eyes and arched his eyebrows at Lance.

“I guess you’re right, haven’t shut up since I met you, guess you wouldn’t now, you missed the shooting star, happened earlier, you were sleeping”

“Oh, did you make a wish”

“Yes, of course I did”

“What’d you wish for”

Keith lightly elbowed Lance in the side, he barely felt it.

“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true”

“Can I at least get a hint”

“Nope, it was honestly like a shooting star I guess, unreachable, untouchable, it was kind of stupid to wish for, but I did, I hope it comes true”

Keith tilted his head down at Lance, Lance cocked his head.

“I hope it comes true too, even though you won’t tell me what it is, do you think I can guess it”

“Doubt it, like I said, unreachable, untouchable”

“You wished for a boat so that you could live on the sea away from everyone and and live out your dream of becoming a pirate and being away from everyone on the vast ocean”

Keith rolled his eyes again.

“I could do that”

Keith sighed loudly.

“I’ll never reach it Lance, and that’s okay, we need to get going, it’s later than we usually leave”

“Fine”

Keith pulled Lance up from the ground. Lance left hand grabbed Keith bicep while his right hand grabbed Keith’s hand.

“Thanks”

Their chests bumped, Lance stepped back and didn’t blush.

“No problem, race you to the campsite”

Lance ended up shoving Keith halfway, he fell down and Lance tagged the lamp post.

“You fucking cheater, you should glad I’m not a sour loser, I’d call a rematch and beat your ass”

“Sure you would Keith, that’s exactly something you would say”

Keith huffed and smiled his lopsided smile.

“Night Lance, see you in the morning”

“See yah Keith”

Lance watched as Keith walked back to his cabin. Keith looked back and waved, the smile was still on his face. Lance waved back, and stood as Keith walked in. He didn’t know how long it took after Keith walked in, but he eventually got it together and walked into his cabin.

“Where have you been”

Lance jumped out of his skin at the sound of Ambers voice. His heart was in his throat.

“I was by the lake, had to get some fresh air”

Lance just said what came to mind, he knew Amber could see him and Keith from outside the window if she looked out, he hoped she hadn’t.

“Oh, are you feeling alright”

“Yeah, I feel fine Amber, go back to sleep okay, we have to wake up early”

“We wake up at the same time everyday, but whatever”

He heard a rustling as she turned over with her back towards the wall. Lance put on his face mask, he had some pimples he isn’t very happy about, changed into pajama pants, and crawled into bed.

He went to bed with that weird feeling in his stomach.

————————————

The alarm didn’t go off that morning. Hunk woke them up.

“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey”

He shook Lance who groaned.

“Where‘s the alarm”

“Don’t know, it didn’t go off, you guys got to sleep in today, you’re welcome”

“Did you actually make eggs and bacon”

“Uhm no, I made waffles”

The bed creaked as Anthony sat up, his face was light blue and his eyes were hooded.

“Do we have syrup”

“Yes, that’s the whole reason I made waffles actually, hurry up and get dressed before they get cold”

The door slammed shut behind Hunk. Anthony was putting on a shirt as Charlotte walked into the bathroom. 

“Did you sleep better afterwards Lance”

“What do you mean”

Anthony’s head was pushed through the head whole, he stretched his arms and looked at Lance with large green eyes.

“He left last night and sat by the lake because he said he needed fresh air”

Charlotte came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth.

“Wont get thick ah me again”

“Yeah, yeah, I feel fine now, I just needed some air”

Charlotte glared at him, her look didn’t last long before she took the brush out of her mouth and smiled at him. She walked back in and spit the toothpaste in the sink.

“Well it’s good that you’re fine now, I am starving and Hunk’s cooking sounds good right now”

After saying that Anthony was the first out the door. After brushing his teeth, Lance followed the kids to the mess hall.

“It’s twenty dollars in quarters that’s enough for everyone to make one call, I think that’s good Allura, I’m not getting more quarters”

Shiro laid a ton of quarters out on one of the tables, they clacked when they hit the wood surface, some of them landed on the floor. 

“What’s with all the quarters”

“You’re gonna get to call home, it’s been awhile since you’ve seen your parents so I thought talking to them would be nice”

Charlotte’s face dropped.

“My dad doesn’t have a phone, I don’t know how to get ahold of him”

“Oh, that would have been good to know sooner, good thing it’s because of home calls and not you getting injured or something, I guess you can wait while everyone else calls”

Keith walked over and messed up Charlotte’s brown hair.

“I don’t have anyone to call either, you can talk with me, I’m sure we can find something we have in common”

The fact made Lance sad. Keith had never fully said “hey, I’m an orphan”, but he had mentioned nuns and an orphanage. Lance could connect the dots.

He wished Keith had a family to talk to.

Shiro rationed out their quarters and told everyone to get in a line. Lance wanted to go first, really missed everyone. He had kind of forgotten how much he had missed everyone, his mind had been on different things. 

Reznor ended up going first. Coran had to teach everyone how to use a rotary phone, after that the phone rang and rang until you could faintly hear someone on the other side.

“Hello, yeah, it’s me, hi mom, I’m doing good, yeah I’m having fun”

A faint smile was on Reznor’s lips, he tapped his foot and sat on the table. 

“We’ve done so much, uh two people, River and Ike, yeah they pretty cool, oh, his name’s Keith, yeah”

Rez talked for about thirty minutes, Lance ended up listening to the whole thing, he hadn’t meant to, but the conversation was pretty interesting.

“How have the readings been going, oh, did you tell her she’s gonna die, well happens sometimes, did you tell Maggie about why her dead bird thing might be happening, yeah the food she’s using, just show her a tarot reading then”

Lance knew nothing about whatever Reznor was talking about, but it was pretty cool anyway. He would have to look up what a tarot was. The phone warned him that his time was running out and a small frown showed on his face.

“Yeah, okay, I miss you, yeah, I’ve been good, I would let you talk to Keith, my counselor, yeah, he doesn’t talk much though”

Keith, who had been talking to Charlotte about something, laughed.

“I talk more than you Rez”

Rez also laughed.

“Bye momma, love you too, I’ll see you at the end of July, yeah, bye”

He hung up with a smile on his face. He then sat with Keith and Charlotte at their table.

River put in her quarters, she dropped one and laughed. Her legs bounced as the phone rang.

“Hello, daddy, yeah it’s me”

She laughed, a large smile was on her face.

“I’m doing good, outside isn’t that bad I guess”

She went on about everything that they’ve done. She explained Keith hitting Lance in very vivid detail, something Keith didn’t appreciate, but Lance laughed at. She also talked about Ike and Reznor, and everything that they had eaten since she’d been here. She also talked about the play.

“Of course I played Juliet daddy, I was born for the spotlight, you already knew that”

You could hear her dad laugh on the other side. She asked about how he was doing and how his business was, she listened attentively and gave her opinion on things every once in a while, but otherwise kept quiet. A small smile was on her face the whole time.

“Oh, you wanna talk to Keith, here, come here”

Keith just stood there and blinked at her.

“I can’t bring the phone to you, come here”

Keith slowly walked that way and took the phone from Rivers hand. He held it up to his ear and waited.

“Uh yeah, she’s been good, she seems to enjoy it, I hope she is at least, uh, I major in engineering, I still have two more years of college, why does this matter, okay, aerospace engineering, it deals with aircrafts and spacecrafts, I primarily study spacecrafts”

Keith talked about space for a while until Lance guessed Rivers dad had had enough of Keith talking, he handed the phone back to River.

“Okay daddy, yeah I love you too, I’ll see you soon, bye, no I don’t need anything, okay, thank you, bye bye”

She hung up the phone and moved out of the way so that Ike could call his parents. Shiro dialed the number and Ike waited for them to pick up.

“Hi, yeah it’s me, I’m really good”

Ike had started talking more and taking louder since the beginning of camp. He was still quiet, just less quiet, Lance was proud of him.

“We played ping pong, I got hit in the face, and we did arts and crafts and threw cotton balls at each other, that was fun, yeah I’m not the only one, Reznor and River are the other ones, they’re pretty cool, River is mean sometimes but she doesn’t actually mean it”

He sat and listened to whatever his mom was saying his feet kicked as he listened.

“No, and Hunk is a really good cook, we ate pancakes this morning, they were good”

Lance didn’t know what he was gonna say to his family. Just talk probably, he missed them a lot. He would tell them everything probably, except the part about being punched, he should probably skip that.

He didn’t pay attention to the rest of the conversations, he knew Amber and Anthony kept yelling into the phone, the only thing he heard from the conversation is Anthony telling their mom Keith was cute (ew Anthony what the fuck?) He blocked out the rest of the conversation after that. 

It was eventually his turn, his palms were sweating as he dialed the house number, hopefully he could call out of the country.

“Buenos días, esta es Isabella McLain hablando”

“Mama, it’s me Lance”

“Lance, children Lance is on the phone”

Her voice was father away, he could hear the patter of feet as everyone came to the phone. He heard Sylvio yelling from the other side.

“Lance, how have you been”

“We miss you”

It was hard to hear everything they were saying, everyone spoke all at once.

“One at a time, Jesus Christ, I’m doing good, I’ve missed you too”

“What’s America like”

“It’s musty here, and hot”

They laughed on the other side of the phone. 

“How are you guys”

“Sylvio broke his arm, Nadia pushed him out of a tree”

“Nadia, that was rude, be nice to your brother”

Nadia scoffed.

“You shove Marco around all the time, I didn’t mean to break his arm”

“Have you been enjoying your time there”

“Yeah, all the kids are great, I’m the counselor for blue cabin, and Charlotte, Amber, and Anthony are my campers, they’re all very well behaved”

He could hear his moms cheery voice on the other side say.

“That sounds so good Lance, it sounds like you’re having fun”

“Have you heard from Ronny”

The line was quiet for a while.

“No, we haven’t heard from Veronica, Luis has tried to call her but, nothing, we don’t even know where she is actually”

“Oh, well, I’m sure she’ll come around, what about, dad, is he around”

They were quiet again.

“Papa said he’s mad, he doesn’t want to talk to you right now, he still angry that you left”

Lance swallowed hard, he had been really mad when Lance said he was going to America. He pulled the, are you really leaving again card, on him. He came back from college, he would come back from America too, even if he didn’t want to. He had nowhere else to go. 

“I’m sure Mateo will come to his sense soon, the next time you call, I’ll make sure he’s here, okay”

“Okay mama, it’s fine, I was just wondering, how is your garden doing”

Lance knew she could talk hours about her garden, and cooking, and how cute she thought Justin Bieber was.

“Mama, he’s ugly and married”

She didn’t care.

“My garden is thriving right now, I have lots of tomatoes, I’m sad you’re not here to pick them with me, but I’ll manage, maybe someone else can help me”

“That’s good, last year they didn’t do that good”

Sylvio talked about his new Power Rangers toy he has gotten for his birthday, he also talked about his cast and how scary the hospital was. Nadia was mad because she was being blamed about his arm.

“I’ve been into wood work lately, it keeps me busy, I enjoy it”

Doing wood work fit Marco.

It was crazy how life just went on without him. How even though everyone missed him and he missed everyone, they still did their own things and changed along the way. He missed them.

There were too many of them honestly. Lance was pretty good at remembering who did what. He was striving too now.

“What have you been doing”

“I’ve played ping pong, went swimming, played volleyball, got punched in the face, played volleyball”

“What, you got hit in the face, by who”

Lance laughed at the memory.

“We’re cool now, but we were a little rocky for a while, one of the other counselors, Keith, hit me, we’re good now though, that was fun”

“Don’t tell your mom that I hit you, what the fuck is wrong with you”

Lance smiled at Keith.

“Why did he hit you, did it, did it hurt”

His mom said it weird, it was how she always asked if it hurt when he got punched. She just didn’t sound like herself, Lance didn’t like when she asked the question, she always did though.

“Only a little, I had a black eye for a bit, but I’m good now”

“Are you sure you’re okay, you can, I- uhm”

Lance laughed, he hoped it sounded happy.

“I’m good mom, Keith and I are actually on good terms, I’m fine promise”

“Okay, if you need anything, or ever want to come home, just call and I’ll send Luis you’re way, I just hoped that the camp would be different than here, I’m so-“

“Mama, I’m fine, I love it here okay, I enjoy being here, I miss you a lot but not enough to go home yet, it be smart to let dad calm down a bit more before I came, even if I wanted to go home, I’m happy here mama, I promise, I wouldn’t lie to you”

She was silent for a minute, he could hear her sigh.

“He’s not taking-“

“No mi hijo, everything has been fine here, okay, he hasn’t been around actually, we’ve been really happy”

Lance didn’t answer for a while, he felt relieved.

“Are you gonna get divorced”

“I don’t have the money for a lawyer hijo, I’m sorry, I know that you-“

“It’s not me, I want you to be happy momma, you don’t seem happy with him”

Lance looked up from the phone, everyone was staring at him, he stared back and coughed, everyone looked away.

“I am, or was, I just, want what’s best for you and, you need a father figure in your life so I just-“

“Luis has been more of a father figure to me than Mateo ever has been”

Something changed in his mother’s tone.

“He is your father Lance Charles McClain, and you should not be-“

“Quit okay, we aren’t gonna fight about this, we’ll talk about it when I get home, alright”

He hated talking about it, his father. Mateo Mcclain had once told Lance they were too much alike. Lance didn’t understand, he was nothing like his father, and never would be.

He’d died before he turned into his father. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it, I know that the subject is, touchy, I’ll drop it, what are you having for dinner tonight”

They continued with mundane conversations, what books she’d been reading, how her oregano was doing, things they would talk about if he was there. It didn’t feel like before though.

“You’re getting extra dishes when you get back, I've been taking over your shift”

Sylvio said it, it wasn’t very loud though, Lance barely heard it. He laughed.

“How many times have I done your share of dishes”

It went like that, little things, like new movies, food they’ve eaten, shows they’ve watched. The phone eventually beeped at him, warning him he had two minutes.

“I only have two minutes left”

“Oh, well bye, will you call again”

“I hope so”

Goodbyes in the McClain house always took a long time. It was just everyone trying to get in last words while they also said goodbye, it had always been like that.

“Make sure you’re good, don’t get in trouble by Lance, oh and don’t forget to sleep well, I love you”

“Don’t get in another fight, bye, and eat, you’ve always been so skinny”

“Can you bring me back something cool from America, and get in another fight that’s rad”

Lance’s cheeks hurt from smiling.

“We miss you, be good, don’t get hurt, bye Lan-“

Their voices cut off, the phone told him his call was over and to put more quarters in to continue. He turned around.

“Who’s next”

—————————————

He sat by Keith afterwards, they didn’t say anything and Lance didn’t pay attention to anyone else’s conversation. After everyone was done, Shiro suggested that they go for a walk. 

Desma talked about plants the whole time, she knew a lot about them. Ruth also knew a lot about birds, which was interesting. Lance liked birds, liked how free they looked while they soared through the sky.

“Charlotte get down from there”

Shiro yelled at Charlotte, Lance hadn’t even realized she was up there. Coran had joined her in the tree.

“Coran, what the, get down, both of you”

“It’s hot, I don’t like the sun”

“We know Rez, you’ve talked about it before”

He could feel Keith’s eyes on him. Every once in a while Lance would look to see if Keith was still looking, he was every time. It made him nervous.

He never said anything though, that’s how the walk went for them, both silent as you could be when walking through the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Softball ends hopefully this week (if we lose we’re done so I hope that happens) and once I get the PSAT out of the way I have nothing, so I’ll have tones of time to write. I’m also looking forward to writing some of the future chapters!! I hope you enjoyed this one!


	15. A Different Kind of Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of abuse.
> 
> I originally didn’t plan to put this in, I was just going to mention it very briefly, but I went more in depth about the situation than I planned to. Domestic abuse is mention in this chapter.

They somehow got lost. Actually Amber and Anthony started playing tag, and everyone joined in. Then they all scattered through the forest. Eventually they all met at the lake. Keith was in the middle.

“Keith, what are you doing”

“You can’t get me in the lake unless you want to get wet, and most sane people won’t so, I can’t be it here”

“In your clothes, what is wrong with you, you’re gonna feel like shit when you get out”

“Hush Lance”

Amber laughed at it.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not get your clothes wet, because you’ll get sick”

“No, never”

Shiro and Lance’s eyes widened, it wasn’t like Amber knew, but still. Lance started laughing.

“I don’t have parents, I’m an orphan”

Amber froze, she blinked and stumbled to find words for a while.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t, I-“

“You’re good, you didn’t know, I don’t really care”

“Seriously though, get out of the lake, you’re gonna get sick”

Keith’s clothes stuck to him, he got out and groaned. 

“Tag is over, I’m going to change”

“Lunch is ready”

Hunk was standing by the fire pit, he wore his signature orange headband and an apron. Hands were on his hips and a smile on his lips.

“What’d you make”

“Mash potatoes and ham”

Lance ran to the mess hall, he heard what sounded like a stampede behind him. They all burst through the doors and got in line before the kitchen. Ham and mash potatoes and gravy were piled on the trays that have been here since the beginning of the summer. Glasses of apple juice were set out for each of them.

“I am tired of apple juice, I want a soda or something”

“You can have water, that’s all we have, sorry”

Hunk didn’t sound very sorry.

They sat where they normally did, food in front of them, talking quietly amongst themselves. Charlotte had just finished most of her food, mash potatoes still sat there, but other than that it was all gone.

“Do you think I can get more ham, I’m starving”

“Eat your potatoes then”

“Potatoes are disgusting Lance, I will not be eating my potatoes”

“I’m sure Hunk will give you more ham then, potatoes are good for you though, potassium I think, I don’t remember”

Charlotte shrugged and got up. One of the floor boards in the mess hall always stuck up a little bit, small enough to miss it with your eye, but big enough to trip on. Lance had tripped on it once and almost busted his head on a table. 

The toe of Charlotte’s shoe caught the lip of the board, she began to fall forward, her tray was thrown in the air, the glob of mash potatoes was sent flying, and somehow managed to land perfectly on River head.

“What the fuck”

She stood up quickly and turned around just as fast. Her eyes narrowed into threatening slits as they landed on Charlotte.

“What the hell was that for”

“I-I swear it was an accident River, I really didn’t mean to”

River huffed and grabbed her tray, the food on it hadn’t been touched. She dumped the whole tray of food on Charlotte’s head. It was something you would see in a movie, it was so cliché it almost hurt, Lance thought he would add to the clichéness of it all.

“Food fight”

Next to him he heares Anthony laughed, he then felt something slimy hit his cheek, seconds later a slice of ham fell to the ground. Chunks of mash potatoes were flying through the air, slices of ham were being thrown like frisbees, Lance even thought he saw a random apple slice at one point. 

Laughter filled the mess hall (the name was fitting for the look of the hall at the moment). Gravy was splattered on the walls, mash potatoe chunks littered the ground, making it a bit dangerous to walk. Lance spotted Keith from the corner of his eye, he was holding onto a glob of mashed potatoes with a grin on his face.

“No where to run I’m afraid Lance”

Lance grabbed a handful of peas off the ground and threw them at Keith, one hit him in the eye. Lance ran away and laughed.

“They call me sharpshooter for a reason, Kenneth”

“No one calls you that”

Keith was blinking the mash potatoes that were stuck to the peas out of his eyes, the grin was still on his face, he was looking behind Lance. In the blink of an eye, mashed potatoes were shoved down Lance’s shirt, the giggle of Ike followed.

Lance jumped and tried to shake the peas out of his shirt, Keith and Ike both laughed at Lance’s little dance.

“Come back here”

Anthony and Amber were chasing each other around the table, both with a mixture of peas and mashed potatoes clutched in their hands. Reznor chucked a peice of mash potatoes across the room, hitting Amber straight in the face. She stopped dead in her tracks, Anthony was able to smash the potatoes on her head. He smiled at Reznor, who gave a thumbs up.

Desma had hidden under one of the tables, her messenger bad was clutched to her body, her glasses were smudged. Lance laughed at the image. Ruth came out of nowhere and slapped mashed potatoes right on Desma’s head, her already large eyes got larger.

“What the hell are you guys doing”

Everyone froze. Shiro’s voice boomed through the mess hall. They all looked at Allura and Shiro’s shocked faces, no one said anything.

“Uhm”

Keith eventually started speaking.

“We’re eating lunch”

Bits of mashed potatoes hung from his black hair, purple eyes were trying to look as apologetic as they could, his awkward, lopsided smile was on his face. Dare Lance say he looked kind of attractive. (Ew, no this was Keith).

“I-I’m leaving, I can’t do this today”

He walked out of the door, Allura followed. Lance looked at the state of the room, then at his clothes, and busted out laughing. Everyone else followed.

“Do you think we’ll have to clean this up”

“It would be nice of us to, so we probably should clean it up”

Lance sighed.

“I’ll go get a mop”

Lance grabbed the mop and bucket from the kitchen, he handed rags to the kids and told them to wipe down anything with food on it.

“Cleaning it up is boring”

Anthony’s usually blonde hair was brown. It stuck to his forehead and hung in front of his eyes, he frowned.

“Do we really have to clean up”

Pidge shoved a towel into Anthony’s hand.

“Yep, now get to wiping, start with that table, we can meet in the middle”

It took them an hour to clean the whole mess hall. 

“My fucking arms hurt”

“River watch your mouth”

“If I was at home, my butler would clean this, even though I made the mess, this is stupid”

Lance scoffed.

“We’re almost done, just finish the walls and that’s it, hard work never hurt anyone”

“Our dad blew his back out moving a couch once, that is a lie”

Lance shushed Amber.

“Just clean”

They eventually finished, it was spick and span, the walls and tables sparkled, the floor was slick with the water from the mop. Everyone tiptoed around and met in the middle.

“It looks pretty clean to me, maybe even Madre McClain approved”

“Trust me, we could scrub the floors for the rest of our lives and they would never be clean, I tired to clean them in November and the dirt just doesn’t come off, it’s like stained with dirt”

Pidge laughed at that.

“You all should probably change out of your clothes, put your stuff in piles and we will clean them separately so no ones clothes gets mixed up, we’ll clean them tomorrow”

They hung out by the fire for the rest of the night. They didn’t have the stuff for s’mores, but they just chatted. Lance didn’t really say much. He was in a good mood though, he wasn’t as sad as after the call.

“Time for bed”

“God, such a party pooper Shiro, I knew you were old but not that old”

“River quit, I’m not in the mood, go to bed”

They all headed to their cabins and got ready for bed.

————————————————

It didn’t take long for the kids to fall asleep, Lance left a lot earlier than he usually did. He left without Keith.

The wind was high, his hair whipped into his eyes, and he was shoved back lightly by the strength of it. It took a bit longer to get to the cabin, but he did beat Keith.

Ten minutes later, Lance watched as Keith came towards him, he could see Keith roll his eyes from where he stood.

“What the fuck, I waited for you by the lamppost and you never came, I thought I upset you somehow, you dickhead”

Lance laughed behind Keith as he unlocked the door and held it open for Lance to walk in.

“I would call you a gentleman, but you did just call me a dickhead, so I think that cancels it out”

They sat where they usually did, Keith in the chair, Lance on the futon. Lance let out a sigh.

“I suggested the phone call thing, you always talk about your family so I thought you’d like to talk to them”

“It was nice, I didn’t realize how much I missed them, thank you for that”

Keith smiled again, Lances heart thumped hard in his chest.

“Sounded like you were having a little quarrel with your mom though”

“Yeah, my dad is angry that I’m in America, so he doesn’t want to talk to me, he never wants to talk to me so it’s fine, she was defending him, I said some rude things, it’s whatever”

Keith looked at him for a bit.

“That doesn’t sound like a very good reason not to talk to you, he hasn’t seen you in a while and should wonder how you’re doing, I guess I wouldn’t know much about that though, I’d be worried if I sent my kid to somewhere far away”

“He gets upset pretty easy, my mom suggested that he go to a therapist for it when we had more money, he didn’t want to and now we don’t have the money to do that, so he’s just angry now”

He saw Keith swallow, he was looking at Lance’s feet and chewing on his lip.

“I-I, I’m sorry, I guess, he doesn’t, hurt you, does he”

Keith looked back up to meet Lance’s eye, his purple eyes looked like they knew everything, they always looked like that. Lance’s heart rate spiked as Keith waited for him to answer, he had to answer. Lance looked away.

“No, no, he’s never hurt me, he’s just gets angry sometimes”

He felt Keith move closer to him, he could see Keith’s hand move to his knee, long fingers squeezed his leg softly.

“Look me in the eyes and say it”

Lance looked up, Keith’s eyes were soft, his eyebrows were scrunched together, and his mouth was parted. His breathing was slow as he waited for Lance.

“He’s, he’s never hit me, or anyone else in my family, he struggles with his anger but he’s never, never, hit me, I just- I- some-sometimes I-“

The hand that was on his knee moved to his hair. Fingers laced through brown strands. Keith brought Lance’s face to his shoulder and wrapped his arms around Lance’s middle. Lance’s tears fell freely.

“H-he d-doesn’t, I-I p-prom-promise, K-Keith, I’m”

Keith shushed and rocked him. Lance clung to him as if it would kill him if he let go.

“I m-miss my m-mom a lot though, she’s a, a really good cook, I think you’d really like her Keith”

“I’m sure I would, if she’s anything like you I’m sure she’s wonderful”

Lance laughed wetly.

“We have the same sense of humor, I wish I looked more like her, she’s really pretty, I always call her las mujeres más bonitas del mundo, the prettiest women in the world, I really think it fits her”

“That’s nice of you”

He could tell Keith didn’t know what to say, Lance didn’t either.

“S-she’d like you, I don’t know why, probably because you’re white and can speak spanish, but she’d really like you Keith”

Keith chuckled, Lance could tell it was forced. Keith didn’t respond, he just kept rocking Lance. 

Lance fell asleep in Keith’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I struggled to write the end of the chapter, I’m sorry if it made anyone uncomfortable, I put it in the tags so people would know. Thank you for reading. (I’m also done with softball, so I’ll have lots of time to write)


	16. Look Me in the Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s another chapter! I didn’t have much written for this chapter, so it’s kind of short. The next chapter is probably going to be short too, I don’t have much written for it either. I hope you enjoy!

Lance could feel himself being shook.

“Lance wake up, we’re at the campground”

He needed to quit falling asleep at the cabin, he should enjoy his time with Keith, what little time they had.

“Sorry I keep falling asleep”

“You’re fine, you had a rough night, I usually fall asleep after crying”

Lance didn’t look at Keith, he looked anywhere but at Keith.

“Are you gonna be okay, we don’t have to come back to the grounds tonight, you can sleep in the cabin, we’ll just make an excuse up, we’ll come up with something”

“I-I think I’ll be okay, I’ll knock if I need anything, okay”

He could see Keith was skeptical of that, could see how his brain was thinking, but he wasn’t saying anything. 

“Promise you’ll knock”

“I promise”

Keith chuckled.

“Sorry, I’m just, I’m just worried about you, it’s kind of stupid to be so worried, you don’t seem like the type of person to cry, that’s stupid everyone cries but-“

“I get it, I try to make other people happy so it’s easy to be happy and stupid to help make others happy, you can’t always be happy though, I’m sorry that I’ve worried you”

Keith sighed. 

“You will talked to me, right”

“I promised, I hate breaking promises, I’ll tell you, okay”

“Okay Lance, I trust you”

Lance smiled.

“You can knock too, I’m here for you”

Keith smiled back, with his stupid smile.

“I’ve never doubted that you wouldn’t be here for me”

Lance’s heart felt heavy. He hated that feeling, he didn’t know what it was, but he hated it.

“G’night Lance”

“Night Keith, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”

“I think it’s a little too late for that, I’ve been waking up with weird bumps on my skin, but whatever, bye Lance”

Keith walked back to his cabin. Lance’s heart was still heavy, he eventually peeled his eyes off of Keith and walked into his cabin. He began to take his shoes off as the lights flipped on.

“You lied to me last night, you were with Keith, I thought you hated Keith”

“Amber, you should be in bed”

She glared at him, her look could kill, Lance felt a shiver come over him.

“So should you, what were you doing with Keith”

“Uhm we were just chatting”

“S’ goin on”

Anthony had sat up and looking with almost closed eyes at Lance and Amber, he let out a yawn.

“Lance has been leaving for the last few nights, he just came in, he’s been with Keith”

“Keith”

Anthony was immediately awake, his eyes were large.

“What were you doing with Keith”

“We’d all like to know that”

Charlotte sat up from her bunk and was looking down at Lance, her arms were crossed and eyebrows raised, she looked dangerous.

“Like I said, we just talked, nothing too serious”

“You look like shit, it’s probably because you’ve been talking with Keith”

Anthony put air quotations around talking with Keith. Lance immediately felt his face get warm, he choked on his spit. The kids mouths dropped.

“Holy shit, you’ve been sneaking out to make out with Keith”

“I told you Amber”

“N-no Amber, Anthony, I have not been sneaking out to make out with Keith, I’ve never even thought about kissing him, I don’t like boys, I’m straight, I think”

Anthony began wiggling his eyebrows.

“You think”

“They’re definitely fucking”

Lance turned wide eyed to Amber.

“Watch your mouth, and Keith and I are not having sex, we are not together, we haven’t even held hands”

“Then hold his hand”

Lance sighed.

“We aren’t going to hold hands, because I don’t like Keith, like that”

Anthony sat forward on his knees. He had a huge smile on his face.

“Why’d you blush when we mentioned you and Keith kissing”

“Because- I- it’s embarrassing for someone to suggest you’re kissing someone you’re not, I-“

Charlotte giggled at his comment.

“You guys get out of his hair, Jesus, let him figure out his sexuality by himself”

“I’m straight”

Amber tried not to laugh.

“That’s okay, tell us about what you and Keith were doing then”

“Keith and I were talking about today, I talk to him a bit about my family and-“

“Is that why you look like you’ve been crying, because of family talk”

Lance scoffed.

“Yes, but that’s not the-“

“Did he hold you while you cried”

“Maybe, Amber that’s not the point of the conversation, Keith and I are-“

Charlotte rolled her eyes at him.

“Not together, we know, did he ask you to keep it a secret, I can keep a secret, I promise, we won’t tell Keith we know”

“We really aren’t together, I’m not lying about that, and I don’t like Keith”

The kids giggled together, it felt like they were taunting him.

“Are you sure, we’ll keep the secret”

“Why do you guys think I like Keith, why”

“Because you blushed when we asked”

Lance huffed.

“I already told you why, we are dropping this conversation, go back to bed”

Lance climbed into his bed and turned away from the kids, he heard them climbing into bed and settling down. It was quiet for five minutes before he heard Anthony speak quietly.

“Oh Keith, your eyes are so pretty, I could get lost in them all day”

The other two gremlins started laughing loudly.

“Shut the fuck up Anthony, I would never say that, especially to Keith, now go to bed”

“Your lips look so soft Kenneth, I wonder what they would feel like against mine”

Lance sat up, his face was on fire.

“Quit it, shut up, go to bed all of you, I’m not giving you a chance to say anything Amber”

“You’re hair looks so-“

“I just said I’m not giving you a chance to say anything, go to bed”

Lance buried his face in his pillow and drowned out their laughter by pulling it over his ears. He knew they were teasing, and probably didn’t mean anything. Just thinking of him saying those things to Keith, even though they were horrible, made his heart feel like it was gonna pop out of his throat.

He didn’t want to think about what that meant.

They kept giggling.

“Klance is kind of a cute ship name, oh my god”

Charlotte gasped dramatically.

“Klance, that’s good, good thinking Anthony”

“No one is shipping us together, now sleep”

Amber busted out laughing.

“Too late, Klance is already your ship name, I love it, okay, now sleep, we have to get up early”

Lance fell asleep with a blush on his face and to the sound of giggling.

———————————————————

Lance woke up in a good mood. He even woke up before the alarm went off and was ready when it went off.

“Ewwww”

“Get ready, I’m already heading to the mess hall”

Amber sat up and headed to the bathroom. Charlotte laughed. She walked past Lance and said.

“Klance”

Amber and Anthony immediately began laughing.

“I almost forgot about that”

“I’m leaving, meet you in the mess hall”

He headed out, you could hear the kids laughing from outside. He saw Hunk in the kitchen cooking.

“Good morning Lance, how’d you sleep”

“Okay, I’m hungry though”

He could hear the kids laughter from mess hall, he cussed under his breath. The door opened and they laughed harder.

“They’re in a good mood”

“Morning Hunk”

“Sounds like you guys are having a good day so far”

Amber giggled.

“Yep, it’s a wonderful day”

Their faces looked scary with how wide they were smiling. Green cabin walked in and took their seats, they started laughing again.

“What is so funny”

“You’ll never believe it, Keith and Lance are a thing”

Everyone else in the room's head whipped to Lance, their faces showed their shock.

“What, since when”

“Since never, we aren’t together, they’re just being assholes, I don’t like Keith like that”

River busted the door open and sighed.

“It is too damn early, ugh”

Good timing Keith, was the only thing that Lance was thinking at that moment.

Keith walked in with Reznor and Ike, everyone’s head pointing to the door. Keith looked around and scrunched his eyebrows together.

“Uh, good morning”

Everyone in the room, but Red cabin and Lance busted out laughing, Frances fell off the bench from laughing so hard, Amber was clutching her stomach.

“What’d we miss”

Everyone just kept laughing, ignoring Rivers' question.

“Okay then”

For the rest of breakfast everyone kept glancing back and forth at Keith and Lance, they tried to hold in their laughter, but failed. Lance’s heart wouldn’t stop beating, he really wished it would quit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan to get the next chapter out fast, it’s probably gonna be kind of short too. I’ve had the chapter thought out since I started writing the story, not a lot happens in the chapter though. I hope you enjoyed this one!


	17. Watch It Unfold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really excited to write this chapter so I wrote a lot today! Here’s another chapter!

Shiro walked in midway through breakfast, he had a smile on his face.

“Good morning”

“You look happy this morning, it’s a good thing everyone is in a good mood, well, except maybe Lance”

Hunk laughed during the last part, Lance just scoffed.

“What’s wrong with Lance”

“Nothing is wrong with me, other than the fact that everyone is picking on me this morning, and I don’t think it’s funny”

Keith turned around to look at Hunk, he threw his arms out and huffed air out of his nose.

“Why are we making fun of Lance, please, fill me in”

Everyone just started laughing again.

“That’s the answer I get everytime I ask why we’re making fun of Lance, I would like to join in, but I guess that’s not an option for me, I am so confused”

“You don’t want to know Keith”

Anthony snickered.

Shiro laid out quarters on the table.

“It’s laundry day, so gather your clothes and anything else you want to wash up and wait your turn, we’ll go blue, red, green this time”

“Aye aye Shiro”

Shiro turned to Hunk, a small smile was on his face.

“I usually tell you beforehand, sorry that I just kind of threw this at you”

“It’s alright Shiro, as long as nothing goes missing from the kitchen I’ll be happy, nothing has so far so I’m not worried about it”

Lance always let the kids do their things first. He thought it was nice, he also did it to make sure the kids didn’t get their things mixed up. After they were all done he would put his things in the washer. Then Keith would put his things in the washer.

“Fuck, do you know where the detergent cup is”

“No, it might be in my things, hold on”

“It’s okay Lance, I’ll just use another cup, be right back”

Keith had left his clothes in the washing machine. The door was hanging open and his clothes just sat there. Lance stood there staring at them in the machine. He grabbed a black shirt that sat on top of the rest and walked to his cabin, he shoved the shirt under his pillow and stood there for a second.

“Why the fuck did I just do that”

He said it to an empty room, his head was spinning from trying to find an answer to the question. His heart felt ready to explode. 

He tried to slow his breathing and think properly for a second. He had to give it back. It would be weird to say that he just took it, Keith would probably never talk to him again. He would just say their clothes got mixed up somehow. That would work, hopefully.

He walked out of the cabin, and headed back towards the kitchen, Keith met him in the doorway.

“Oh hey, I started your clothes for you, fourth five minutes”

“Okay”

His heart almost drowned out what Keith had said.

“Thanks”

“Yeah, no problem”

Keith patted Lance on the back and walked out to where Shiro was telling the kids about archery. Lance probably should be there, he knew nothing about archery, but instead he was standing in the mess hall with his heart in his throat, after stealing Keith’s shirt for some reason.

“Get it together Lance, just act normal, nothing happened, Keith’s shirt is still in his load of laundry”

“What about Keith’s shirt”

Hunk was standing in the doorway.

“Uh I said Keith’s shirt is putting me through a quandary, because it looks really ugly on him and I don’t know how to tell him that”

Hunk paused for a minute.

“Oh, I really didn’t notice what he was wearing”

Hunk peaked out the window, he looked towards where Keith was standing by Shiro, he was wearing a button up with flamingos on it. The shirt wasn’t that ugly, and Keith actually looked nice in it. Lance internally cussed.

“I don’t think it’s that bad, it’s definitely looks like it doesn’t belong in Keith’s closet, but I don’t think it’s ugly, it’s got little flamingos on it, I think that’s cute, I don’t know, maybe that’s just me”

“I don’t know, I just don’t like it for some reason”

Hunk shrugged and hummed.

“I don’t know either, I thinks it quite nice, oh well”

“Yeah, uh, I’m gonna go join everyone outside, because I know nothing about archery and would like to learn, so uhm yeah, nice talk Hunk, don’t tell Keith about his ugly shirt for me”

“No problem man, enjoy archery”

He pretended not to hear Hunks little, I wonder what’s up with him, and headed towards where the kids were. He didn’t pay attention to Keith at all.

“Hey Lance, glad to see you’ve decided to join us”

Shiro was holding a bow in his hands and was pointing it to the ground.

“I was just showing everyone how to shoot a bow, you can listen if you want”

“Sure, sounds cool”

He didn’t listen to what Shiro had to say. All he could think about was the shirt that laid under his pillow. Everyone started to get up, Lance followed them to the targets. He watched the kids shoot. Charlotte was pretty good, she got quite a few arrows in the center of the target. Ike on the other hand was really bad, he couldn’t even pull the bow back all the way.

“Lance, are you gonna shoot”

Keith looked over at him from where he stood, a bow was in his hand, pieces of black hair hung in his eyes.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention to Shiro”

“It’s not that hard, come here, I’ll teach you”

Lance went to stand by Keith. Lance took the bow and held it in his left hand.

“Just raise it with your left hand and pull back on the strings with your right, then aim the little notch at the center of the target and left go”

Lance did what Keith told him, the arrow ended up hitting the bottom of the target.

“Not bad, just aim higher next time, see what did I say, not that hard”

Quilt settled in his stomach, Lance sighed, he felt like throwing up.

“I guess you’re right, that wasn’t that bad”

“I’m never wrong Lance”

Keith smiled at Lance, his urge to throw up got worse.

“I’m not so sure about that one”

—————————————————

They spent quite a while doing that, the whole day pretty much. Everyone’s laundry was clean and everyone had learned a new skilled.

“I think today was pretty successful, what do y’all think”

“I enjoyed today, I never thought I’d even get close to touching a bow”

River had been weirdly nice today, it didn’t sit right with Lance, he couldn’t say he hated nice River though.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it River, I never thought I’d hear you say you’ve enjoyed anything in camp honestly”

“Well Shiro I enjoyed it, so there you go”

The sun was sinking over the lake, it had gotten a little chilly, the wind had picked up. Lance shivered as the cold touched his skin.

“It’s getting kind of late”

“Yeah, it’s getting kind of chilly too, we should probably head to our cabins, it might rain”

They said their goodnights and headed to their cabins, before Lance could go Keith called him. His heart pumped again.

“I don’t want you to get sick again, so I won’t go to the cabin tonight”

“The only reason I even got sick was because you wouldn’t let me in”

He hoped that Keith couldn’t hear the waver in his voice as he spoke, he also hoped he didn’t notice he was acting weird.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, but still, the rain will probably be here in twenty minutes maybe, I don’t want both of us to get sick”

“You don’t want to get sick”

Keith shrugged.

“Yeah, I don’t want to get sick, we can catch up on sleep that we’ve lost also, I’m looking for the good things, not when I treated you like shit”

Lance rolled his eyes. The weight that sat in stomach was killing him, like he would just tell Keith he stole his shirt at any second.

“We should go inside, night Lance”

“Good night Keith”

Lance quickly walked to his cabin, the kids were already there sitting on their beds talking about some show Lance didn’t know.

“I personally don’t think they should have ended up together, no one had enough chemistry, especially those two, no one should have been end game”

“I honestly didn’t hate it, but I didn’t ship them so”

Lance crawled onto his bed and listened to what the kids were talking about, he didn’t understand any of it though.

“He got no development, he could have been a side character with the amount of development he got”

“He got development, it was just small, he didn’t have an arch like everyone else”

Lance yawned loudly while Amber and Charlotte were arguing about whether some character, Laurence or something, had actually gotten any character development. Lance wasn’t really paying attention.

“You tired”

Anthony looked at Lance from his bunk.

“Yeah, I don’t know why, we didn’t even do anything today really”

“Some days just take more out of you than others, I’m kind of tired too honestly”

Amber and Charlotte were still bickering about the show, and how Paige got too much development, and how Laurence and Koby should have been together instead of Laurence and Angelica. Lance was confused.

“Okay, you two need to shut up about the show, you lost me like ten minutes ago, I have no clue what’s happening, and you don’t sound like you’re gonna come to a compromise, so just agree to disagree and quit talking about it”

“Okay, I want your opinion on something”

“No, shut up”

Anthony rolled his eyes.

“I also watched the whole show okay, it ended two years ago, shut up and get over it, I was angry that the representation in the show sucked too okay, but I’m over it, now shut up about Nanoarrow, Saviors of the Planet, I’m gonna lose my shit if I hear one more thing about Laurence, Koby, Angelica, Paige, Sean, or Hugo, okay, just drop it”

“Fine”

Charlotte scoffed.

“There was no need to be so defensive about it, damn”

“Uhm, okay kids, time to go to sleep”

Amber kept mumbling about how stupid the ending was, and how the writers should have took more time on it. She eventually shut up about it when Lance turned off the lights.

Lance laid there for a second. His mind flicked to the shirt that laid under his pillow. He could hear the rain pound on the roof of the cabin. He pulled the shirt from under his pillow and pressed it to his nose. It smelled like alpine wood and Keith.

Lance fell asleep in no time, he slept like a baby that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh, Nanoarrow, Saviors of the Planet sounds kind of familiar. Koby, Angelica, Paige, Sean, Hugo, and Laurence sound kind of like names I know. I wonder how I came up with this. It’s nothing like Voltron promise ;). I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I enjoyed writing it!


	18. A Little Hot in Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had a lot of motivation to write recently so here’s another chapter! I really liked writing this one, so I hope you enjoy!

The alarm was blaring outside. It forced Lance to wake up from what was probably the best sleep he had ever had in his life. The soft material of Keith’s shirt was pressed to his cheek, a bit of drool was soaked into the fabric.

The kids groaned, like everyday, Lance felt the same about it, especially today. He shoved the shirt back under his pillow, he checked twice to make sure that there wasn’t any red visible from under it, then sat up and stretched. 

“Do you regret staying up late to talk about Nanolazer or whatever”

“It’s Nanoarrow, and no, I don’t regret it, I needed to get all that off my chest, it’s been sitting there for two years and I feel light as a feather right now”

“Well good for you Charlotte, I’m proud”

Charlotte smiled, her eye bags were more pronounced than they normally were. Amber groaned again from her bed.

“I certainly regret it, fuck Nanoarrow, Savers of the Planet, I hate everything about the stupid show, it should have been canceled at like season four, maybe five”

She yawned dramatically, a thud followed. 

“It’s supposed to be really hot today, Shiro said the hottest day in Alabama history, so do what you wanna with that information”

“So we’ll be inside today”

“I don’t know, that’s Shiro’s decision not mine, probably not”

Lance’s mind flicked back to the shirt as he walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth. It wouldn’t leave his mind and the feeling in his stomach was back. Today was gonna be a long day.

“Ew, is it like sticky hot or just hot”

“Your legs work, get up and see”

“Lance, you sound like our mom”

Lance didn’t answer as he pulled his shirt on and walked out. It didn’t look too wet outside, which was a good thing. The lake was a little high, but that was pretty normal after it rained. He stepped on the ground in front of their cabin. It barely gave under Lance’s weight.

“We’ll probably do something outside today, the ground isn’t too soft, I don’t know what we’re doing though”

The morning sun was hot, which meant it would be ten times hotter in the afternoon. Lance sighed.

“Damn it’s hot outside”

Keith’s voice came from his cabin. Lance turned to see Keith standing on the steps to Red cabin, khaki shorts hung low on his hips, he wore no shirt. Lance watched as he yawned and stretched his arms above his head, his muscles flexed. Lance looked away.

“Do you think it’s too wet outside to do anything”

Lance didn’t look at Keith when he asked the question, he just watched the toe of his shoe smush the mud by the stairs.

“No, I don’t think it’s that wet outside, we could probably fish or something, I don’t know, that’s up to Shiro not me so”

“If I pass out it’s on Shiro then”

“What”

Keith had walked close to Lance so they weren’t shouting at each other from their cabin steps. He leaned on the stair post that was opposite to where Lance was standing.

“I don’t know, I have this weird thing were I pass out when it’s hot”

Keith chuckled at that.

“Sounds like you need to drink more water”

Amber walked out and saw Keith standing by their cabin.

“Ew”

“That’s homophobic Amber, be nice”

“Uhm, I didn’t say anything homophobic”

Keith leaned to where Lance could see him behind Amber and Anthony and mouthed ‘what the fuck’, Lance just shook his hands in the air, Keith pouted and raised his eyebrows. It looked like it confused Keith more.

“Just forget it”

“Alright, make sure you drink a glass of water this morning”

Keith turned to go back to his cabin, he reached behind him to scratch his back. Lance had never noticed the moles that scattered across Keith’s back.

“Quit staring lover boy, come on, let’s eat”

Lance didn’t eat much, he took two bites of his waffles then threw them away. They weren’t bad, Lance just wasn’t that hungry.

“I would have eaten those”

The bench creaked under Lance’s weight as he sat back down. 

“Sorry, you should of said something before I got up, I would have given them to you Charlotte”

“You should probably eat”

Pidge leaned over to their table, she’d been listening. That wasn’t new though, she’d been listening to their conversations for quite a while (nosy bastard).

“It’s hot out and it’s only gonna get hotter, without food you can’t hold water”

“I’ll be fine Pidge”

“No Pidge is right, you said earlier you pass out easy, eat breakfast and drink a glass of water”

“Ah look at you Keith”

Lance smiled at him from across the room.

“Are you worried about me”

“Kinda, yeah, I don’t want you to pass out”

Hunk laughed from the kitchen, Pidge, Allura, and Coran had joined in.

“A few weeks ago you would have never been worried about Lance my boy”

Keith looked over at Coran and cleared his throat. He chuckled.

“Yeah Coran, I- you’re right, I don’t know, things change I guess”

Coran patted Keith on the back. Keith smiled at Lance, only one side of his mouth curved up. Keith and his stupid smile.

Lance really, really hated it.

It’s like he already knew and he was just waiting for Lance to tell him that he took the shirt. “I know you have my shirt” was just written on his face. 

He had to quit thinking about it.

“I talked to Shiro before I walked in, it was mostly poppycock, but he did tell me we were fishing today”

The kids all groaned. Lance thought it was a bad decision too, fish were disgusting and it was way too hot to be outside.

“It’s supposed to be the hottest day in Alabama history, one hundred fourteen degrees outside, which beats one twelve, the record, and we’re gonna fish”

“Don’t complain to me kiddo, I didn’t choose, complain to Shiro”

Keith huffed.

“It’s dangerous, everyone drink water, no heat exhaustion today alright, if you feel too warm go inside and sit in the air conditioning, don’t wait until you pass out, get a glass of water now”

Everyone followed Keith’s order but Lance, Keith forced a glass of water into Lance’s hand, their fingers brushed.

“Drink it, I don’t care if you think you don’t need it, you do, drink”

Lance took a sip of the water.

“Happy”

“Not really, you need more water than that, but some is better than none I guess”

Keith monitored everyone’s water drinking. Lance thought it was weird at first, Keith forcing everyone to down water wasn’t something Lance thought he would see. With more thought he realized it was because he really was worried about everyone. It was sweet.

“Once everyone is done we can head out to Shiro, we’re gonna fish today”

“Ew, I don’t want to touch a fish or a worm, what the fuck”

Keith took Lance’s glass from him and turned to River.

“I’ll put your worm on the hook and take the fish off, does that make you happy”

“Not really, but I guess I’ll try it”

Shiro had set up poles around the lake.

“Does the lake even have fish in it”

“Yes, I caught a few this morning before you woke up”

Shiro showed the kids how to cast and sent them on their own, he walked around for a while helping anyone that needed it. Eventually he sat down and fished with the rest of them.

Fishing was too quiet and boring for Lance to pay attention, he was halfway asleep in a broken lawn chair when Amber yelled his name.

“Lance you have a bite”

“You probably scared the fish away from this part of the lake with the yelling you did, he definitely doesn’t have a bite now”

“You might have moved them to my side though”

On the end of Keith’s hook was a fish, it flopped around on the hook as he held it out of the water for everyone to see.

“A Bluegill, ponds filled with them”

That’s mostly what they caught. Every once in a while someone would catch something. Amber caught a Bass, Frances caught a Catfish, other than that it was just Bluegills.

“No luck”

Keith was standing by Lance, hands on his hips, both of them were looking at Lance’s line.

“No, shut up”

“Maybe move somewhere else, the fish might not bite much right here”

He thought about it, he sighed and slumped in his chair.

“I’m good, I trust the fish to find my worm”

“Do you still have a worm”

Keith had a thing for button ups, yesterday’s was flamingos, today’s was sunflowers. It was cute.

“Yes, I think”

Turns out Lance didn’t have a worm. Keith just laughed it off and put one on Lance’s hook.

“Feeling fine”

“Yes Keith, I’m not gonna die, I’m feel fine”

Keith just shrugged and went to help Desma, whose line had gotten stuck in a tree after she tried to cast it. Lance could feel a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, he also had a small headache, but didn’t think much about it.

He went on fifteen more minutes without catching anything, he was also feeling dizzy and his legs had started to cramp up. He stood from his chair as Charlotte walked passed him to get a worm.

“Whatcha up to”

“Ima, head, head insi-“

Before Lance could finish his sentence, he fell backwards, lights were flashing in his vision. He could hear his name being called from far away.

“Lance are you okay”

Something was touching the back of his head and lifting it up. Something else snaked around his knees. Lance could see Keith’s face in his vision. He didn’t feel the ground anymore, that’s all he remembered before the whole world went black.

——————————

“Hey, hey I thinks he’s waking up, Lance, Lance can you hear me”

Lance’s head was groggy and he felt like shit. He blinked hard a couple of times, Anthony was in front of his face when he could finally see something.

“Anthony give him some space”

Shiro’s hand pulled Anthony back away from Lance. Keith looked at Lance and huffed.

“Idiot”

“We saw Keith kneeling over you so we ran to you and called for Shiro to come and pick you up from the ground and he brought you in here”

Ike’s eyes were huge and his little body shook.

“Here’s a glass of water, like I told you to drink this morning, are you okay”

“Yeah I’m fine, sounds like you didn’t do much though Keith”

“I’m the reason they came over there, I was the first person to you”

Lance laughed.

“So why didn't you take me inside Keith, huh”

“I-I-I, we had a bonding moment, I cradled you in my arms”

“Nope, don’t remember, didn’t happen”

Keith just stared at Lance, his mouth agape his purple eyes were large.

“Lance, you’re awake, did someone give him water”

Lance picked up the glass by his side and took a swig out of it, he raised it to Shiro and nodded. He glanced at Keith, who’s mouth still hadn’t closed.

“What’s wrong with you”

“I-I, you are unbelievable”

Keith hadn’t stopped looking at Lance. He rolled his eyes and walked outside, Shiro looked around the room.

“Why do I always miss everything that happens around here”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to add that I added a quote from chapter 13 to the summary. I just thought the summary was boring and needed something so I added the quote. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	19. What in Tarnation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m on a roll, but I am running out of chapter summaries, so I have to write more...yeah. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Keith was moping on the stairs of the mess hall. Lance had gotten to the point where he could stand and walk around without feeling dizzy, which meant he was pretty much back to normal. 

“You’ve upset Keith”

“Yeah, I know”

River rolled her eyes at his answer.

“You two are weird, we’re not gonna have to lock you two in the closet again right, you can figure this one out on your own”

“Yes, we’ll be fine, thanks River”

Lance peaked out the window to see the steps were empty, Lance sighed.

“He’s left the steps, I’ll apologize for it later, it’s not my fault I don’t remember it, I will say sorry though”

“You better, I’m not dealing with moody Keith again, I have never wanted to punch a person more in my life”

Lance hopped off the table, he walked around for a bit and decided that he was fine. 

“Good you’re walking, we won’t need to get professional medical attention then, that’s good, where’s Keith”

“He’s on the steps being emo”

“Oh, uh just leave him alone for a minute, he’ll come back in here soon”

Keith actually didn’t come back in for a while. When he did the door flew open, everyone was still sitting around Lance as he told the story of him breaking his leg in sixth grade.

“I was flying through the air, my arms were flailing everywhere I thought I was flying, oh hey Keith I was telling everyone how I-“

“I have a shirt missing”

Lance froze, today’s breakfast felt like it was gonna come up.

“What”

“One of my shirts, it’s red, just plain, it’s not in my clothes”

“Are you sure it’s gone, like you checked everywhere”

Shiro rubbed his shoulder when he asked the question, he didn’t look too worried about the shirt.

“Yes, everywhere that it could be, I don’t know where it is, I can’t find it”

Lance felt like the world stopped. They only thing that he could think of was the red shirt, Keith’s red shirt, that laid under his pillow. At this point it didn’t smell like Keith anymore, it smelt like him. It still helped him sleep at night though. Shit.

“Okay, it probably got mixed in with someone else’s laundry, we’ll look for it okay, it has to be around here somewhere”

“It’s not that big of a deal, it’ll show up sometime, I USF noticed it was gone”

“We’ll look, it can’t hurt to look for it”

Curse Amber for being well mannered.

Everyone headed to their cabins. Lance hoped he looked normal.

“Check your laundry, the only way somebody could have gotten Keith’s dirt is if it got in someone else’s laundry”

Amber poured her clothes out on her bed, Charlotte poured hers on the floors, Anthony just picked through his hamper. 

“What does it look like”

“It’s red”

Lance pretended like he was digging through his things. It was a useless search, no one would find the shirt in their clothes because it wasn’t in any bodies clothes. Lance felt sick.

“I double checked, it’s not in my things”

“Not in mine either”

“I can’t find it”

They all stood in the space between the beds. Lance puts his hands on his hips and looked at the kids.

“I guess no body has it here”

Lance’s heart bumped against his ribs as he said it.

“Maybe someone else does, it’s fine, Keith didn’t seem too worried”

They walked outside to where Green and Red cabin were already standing by the fire pit.

“Any luck”

“No, nothing”

“Damn”

Keith sighed and looked at the sky.

“I don’t know, it’s fine, thank you guys for looking, I just hadn’t seen it since I did laundry and thought someone else might of accidentally put it in their laundry, I’ll find it eventually”

Keith shook his head, his hair fell into his face.

“Oh well, we can move on now, I just randomly noticed that so”

The guilt was eating away at Lance. It was pretty small at first, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it now, it was eating away at him like acid ate away at the food in your stomach. 

Lance sat down with everyone by the fire. He didn’t say anything else until they were getting ready for bed.

“Are you okay Lance, you’ve been really out of it since you passed out”

“Yeah, I haven’t really felt the best honestly”

Not a lie.

“I plan to go to bed early instead of talking”

Was a lie.

“Oh, you should have told someone sooner, you could of just came back here and slept, if you would have just listened to Keith”

“Yeah yeah Anthony, I get it, sometimes Keith is right, I’ll remember that the next time Keith gives advice”

Amber hit her brother.

“Shut up, we’ll go to bed early also, so you can sleep without anyone waking you up, I know you’d do the same thing for us Lance”

“Thank you Amber. I appreciate it”

He gave her a smile. It was unnecessary for them to go to bed early, Lance was gonna leave anyway.

“Lights off in ten, extra sleep won’t hurt us, you better sleep Lance”

She hadn’t forgotten about him sneaking out then. That sucked.

“Yeah, no going to make out with Keith”

Charlotte hadn’t forgotten either.

“We have never made out, and don’t tell Keith that you know, please”

“Quit worrying about that, we told you we wouldn’t 

Lance sighed and laid back against his pillow. His fingers ghosted over Keith’s shirt, he ran his fingers up and down the fabric.

“Ah Klance”

“Hush, I’m gonna fall asleep now”

“Ugh, boring, okay, sleep well old man”

“Shut up Charlotte”

The lights were flicked off. Lance reached under his pillow and pulled the shirt to his chest. It had started to loose that Keith smell, it disappointed Lance more than it should of, but right now it still smelled faintly of apline wood. 

Lance laid there for thirty minutes, trying to figure out why he took the shirt, he still didn’t know by the time Keith shined a light through the cabin window.

He met Keith by the lamppost, lance wore his lion slippers, a bad choice for the state of the ground.

“Are you feeling okay, scared the shit out of me today”

“Yeah, I’m good now, pretty sure I told you I pass out in hot weather”

Lance could tell Keith wanted to say something as they walked slowly to the cabin, Keith’s hands were in the pockets of his sweatpants and Lance noticed he was biting the inside of his cheek.

“What”

“Do you really not remember”

Lance tried to figure out what Keith was talking about.

“When you passed out, do you really not remember”

“No, I don’t remember it, I would tell you if I did remember”

Keith hummed as he pulled out the key and opened the door. Lance plopped himself down on the futon, Keith sat in his rolling chair and started working on his drawing.

“Whatcha working on”

“I’m drawing Haikyuu characters”

“I love Haikyuu, Hinata’s my favorite”

Keith smiled at that. Everytime Lance saw his lips quirk up he felt his heart clench.. 

“I love Bokuto, he’s definitely my favorite, Tsukki is pretty cool too”

“No wonder you like Tsukki, you’re just like him”

“I am not, I actually like Volleyball”

“So did Tsukki, he just denied that he liked it, he literally went pro”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“I’d rather be compared to Iwa-Chan than Tsukki, at least Iwa-Chan is hot and an ace, Tsukki is just a middle blocker”

Lance had accidentally blocked Keith out, he stopped paying attention, his mind floated to the shirt that sat crumpled under his pillow, he thought about Keith asking where it was and Lance saying they couldn’t find it, even though he knew exactly where it was.

“Lance are you sure you’re o-“

“I took it”

Keith stopped and just stared him, Lance turned his eyes to look at Keith’s knees. It was silent for a few moments.

“What”

“Your shirt, the one that’s missing, I-I don’t know why, but I did, I could have just gave it back but I don’t know why I didn’t I-I just, I don’t know”

Keith blinked at him, he looked confused before he finally realized what Lance was saying.

“Oh, oh”

Keith busted out laughing. Lance couldn’t do anything but look at him. Keith fell out of his chair and rolled on the floor, he was clutching his stomach.

“What I-“

When he finally calmed down he looked at Lance with tears in his eyes.

“That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard Lance”

“I’m not kidding”

“I know you’re not kidding, I watched you steal it, I just wanted to see how long it would take you to confessed, you looked constipated all day because of it”

Lance could feel his face warm up, the heat went all the way down his neck. Lance wanted to throw up.

“I-I, I’m sorry, I guess I don’t know what to say”

“You could tell me why, that’s a good start”

“I already said I don’t know why”

Keith swiveled in his chair, he then kicked his feet up onto the futon by Lance, he turned his head upward, his foot nudged against Lance’s thighs.

“There has to be a reason”

“I don’t know it really, I- it helped me sleep, I’ve been struggling lately and I fell asleep pretty fast last night”

Keith thought about Lance’s words. His foot tapped against Lance’s leg.

“Should have said something sooner”

Keith’s foot didn’t stop it’s tapping.

“You can keep it”

“It’s your shirt”

Keith looked Lance in the eye, they rolled into his head then narrowed at Lance.

“Quit being so stubborn, I said you could keep it, so keep it, I don’t mind, if it helps you sleep, it helps you sleep, I don’t want you passing out on me anymore, okay, so keep it Lance”

Purple eyes softened. His smile was back.

“Okay”

“Okay”

“Made a big deal out of nothing Lance, you’re too young to have grey hairs”

Lance let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, his shoulders sagged. He laid down on the futon, his back hit the hard mattress and he bounced up a bit.

“Did you really worry about it all day today”

“Maybe”

Keith started laughing again.

“Shut up”

“Whatever you say Lance”

———————————————

Amber was waiting for him again, this time with Charlotte by her side, Anthony was passed out on the floor.

“So tell us about your time with Keith”

“No, we just talked and Keith made fun me, the usual”

Charlotte giggled.

“What’d you talk about”

“Haikyuu, and how Keith has a crush on Bokuto”

Amber laughed at that.

“Did you tell him about your crush on him”

Lance had climbed in bed, he rested his hands under his head.

“No, because I don’t have a crush on Keith”

Anthony hummed at that.

“Are you sure”

“One hundred percent, we’ve gone through this before”

Charlotte clicked her tongue.

“Have we gone through this before”

“Yes”

Lance touched the shirt under his pillow. He could hear his heart beating rapidly. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down.

“Did we really though”

“Yes, we really have, now shut up and sleep”

Charlotte groaned.

“I think hanging out so much with Keith has made you grumpy, I don’t even know why you sneak out at this point, we wait for you to leave so we can talk”

“Yeah, we watched you and Keith by the lamppost until you walked away”

Lance scoffed.

“You guys are creeps, leave us alone”

“We’re not creeps, this is just the most exciting thing that’s happened this summer, you going to smooch the guy who’s supposed to be your enemy, that’s crazy as shit”

“We have never been enemies, and I’m not smooching anyone”

Charlotte elbowed Amber and turned to her.

“That’s the kind of shit that people say when they are smooching someone”

“Shut up and go to bed”

The whole cabin blew up in laughter. Lance turned away from them and pulled the shirt from under his pillow. He wrapped his arms around the shirt and fell asleep to laughter and the smell of Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, next chapter will be from Keith’s POV again, so it’ll be out really quick. I love Keith and enjoyed writing his last chapter. Chapter twenty one is gonna be my favorite chapter, so chapter twenty will be out really fast. :)


	20. Lone Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Keith’s POV again! It’s also probably my favorite chapter so far. I love Keith, anyway. I hope you enjoy!

This wasn’t the first time this happened to Keith. The first time had been when he was seven. He was with a foster family, the Jenks if he remembered right, standing in a Target checkout line.

“Do you want a candy bar Keith”

She had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Her necklace looked expensive, she dressed well. She was too good to take care of someone like Keith. Instead of answering he just nodded and pointed to a Snickers bar by the cashier. She took it off the shelf and put it with the rest of the groceries.

“You don’t say much”

“Sister Alice said my mouth would be the death of me, so I don’t say as much as I used to”

She hummed as she stood there, getting ready to swipe her card. Keith put her groceries in her cart for her. She smiled her nice little smile at him. He could never imagine this sweet woman taking him home, he could hope all he wanted, and he really hoped that she would. That he would have a place to call home. 

“It doesn’t help me get to know you if you don’t say anything though”

“If you don’t know anything about me, then you might take me home”

He had been staring at the cashier. Freckles covered tanned skin, the brown hair that sat on his head was a mess, but he made it took like it was on purpose. His blue eyes met Keith’s, he smiled with perfect white teeth. His name tag read Peyton.

“Thank you ma’am, enjoy the rest of your day”

He waved down at Keith. Keith walked with Ms.Jenks. He helped her load the bags into her car, then sat in the front seat and enjoyed his candy bar as they drove back to the orphanage.

Even months after the encounter Keith still remebered Peyton. It pissed him off at the time. He thought he was jealous of the boy, who looked like the whole world had just been put in the palm of his hands, like he never had to worry about anything. Keith thought he hated him. He realized soon after that wasn’t the case. It was actually the opposite.

He knelt in the pews of the orphanage, where the nuns took the kids to pray and for them to learn about god or whatever else. He prayed for the first time in his life. 

Keith didn’t believe in God, he never had, why would a god that was supposed to love all of his children put Keith through so much shit, why would he make Keith an orphan or make him unlovable. It felt like the right thing to do then though, pray.

He prayed that he would understand what was going on in his head, that he would get adopted one day, that he would stop thinking about Peyton, that he would become straight.

That obviously never happened, except understanding what was going on in his head, most of the time.

Sister Josephine had become a mother figure to him. She ran the orphanage and had raised Keith. She made him do his school work, made sure his grades were good, made sure he was eating and that he was always okay. There was only time before she realized something was up with him.

It had been five years since he had seen Peyton, Keith didn’t even remember his name anymore, he still didn’t except that he liked Peyton, or had liked him at some point. The nuns always whispered about the people shunned in society, gay people were among the list. Keith didn’t want to be shunned. Josephine pulled him to the side during lunch. She straightened out his collar and ran her hands down his arms.

“I wanted to talk to you”

“Really, couldn’t tell”

She laughed, the smile on her face was quickly wiped off when Keith didn’t laugh with her. Her eyes were filled with something, to this day Keith still didn’t know what it was.

“The younger kids have been mean to you recently, have you noticed”

Keith shook his head to the side, he had heard what the other kids called him. They had been mean to him for a while though, it didn’t bug him, anymore at least.

“They, they call you mean words Keith, I won’t repeat them, I’m not sure where they learned them but, I just wanted to make sure you were fine”

“Yes, I’m fine”

His throat felt like it was gonna close up. He wouldn’t let tears spill, he wouldn’t.

“I’ll make sure they quit, alright”

She smiled at him, her hand ran through his hair. She stood up and walked towards the door. Her footsteps echoed through the room that was too big, afternoon light shined in through the stained glass windows. 

“Sister Josephine”

She stopped and turned on her heels. As her eyes met his, Keith could feel himself begin to shake.

“Yes Keith”

Tears formed in his eyes until he couldn’t see her anymore.

“Am I a sinner”

She paused. She then looked out the window next to her. Christ hung on the cross, blood dripped from his right lung, a sunset surrounded him, greenish stained glass surrounded that. Keith hated that window.

“Do you see yourself as one”

“I don’t know, that’s why I asked you”

She laughed then, it was quick, Keith didn’t find the situation funny. His hands fisted in his shirt. He played with buttons on it as he waited for her to answer. It felt like an eternity before she said anything.

“No Keith, you’re not a sinner”

“Then why do I feel like one”

He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. She pursued her lips and shook her head.

“That’s not for me to answer Keith, you know that, liking boys is nothing to ashamed of though, alright, God isn’t angry about it, nor am I, I promise, you fall in love with who you fall in love with”

Keith didn’t say anything, he just nodded, she smiled again. Eventually she left after Keith didn’t say anything else. He didn’t move from his spot on the pews until the sun set completely and the church was pitch black.

—————————————

Plenty of other people came to adopt him, he never left with any of them. Keith had lost all hope of getting adopted, it was fine though, no one was shocked.

“Ah Keith, are you still sitting by yourself, it’s been seventeen years and still no one wants you”

“No one wants you either James, we’re orphans”

James Griffin and Ryan Kinkade had been here for about as long as Keith. Keith had always been bullied relentlessly by James. James made sure everyone stayed away from Keith, he wasn’t really sure why.

“The difference between you and me is that I have friends”

“I have friends”

“The nuns don’t count Keith”

James wasn’t wrong. 

It hurt when James was adopted. Keith and the other orphans stood by the door as James new parents came to pick him up. They hugged him and told him how great it was to meet him. Most of the time older kids, kids their age, didn’t get adopted. They just aged out and left to try and thrive on their own. James was lucky, Keith and the other hand, not so much.

Keith sat outside on good days, he drew the flowers that sat out front, something he’s done for years. He looked up to see the younger kids run off the school bus that had arrived. Sister Grace, a new, younger lady at the orphanage, she was probably around Keith’s age, had greeted the children at the door. He smiled.

“Keith, how have you been lat-“

“You’re gonna talk to me about aging out, aren’t you”

He didn’t look at Sister Josephine when he said it, he kept his eyes on the bus that was pulling out of their circle drive, he watched the dust kick up from the wheels. He could hear the grass russle beside him as Sister Josephine sat down.

“I’m sorry”

“Why are you apologizing”

“I feel like I kind of gave up on you, you should of been out of here a long time ago”

He hadn’t left the orphanage in four months, not since he graduated. Keith was sure they had never had anyone who was eighteen at the orphanage, Keith was special.

“I-I really don’t want to send you out with nothing, I’m scared you’ll die out there”

She laughed as she said it, Keith forced his mouth to quirk up. 

“I-I looked at your grades, I didn’t know you were so smart Keith, I’ve never paid attention”

“I’ve been applying for scholarships, I hope I can pay for college, that’s the only reason I tried so hard in school, I was valedictorian, hopefully that’ll help”

Josephine smiled, she was always smiling.

“I’m sure it will Keith, I’m gonna send you to college if it’s the last thing I do, we’ll just pray god will help you get there”

He couldn’t tell Josephine he stopped praying a long time ago, he didn’t want to hurt her.

“I’m proud of you”

“Thank you, for everything, I don’t know where I’d be without you, dead probably”

“I think you’d do fine without me, you’re not helpless Keith, you just need guidance every once in a while, but don’t we all”

They were silent, it was harder to talk to her now than when he was eight. Keith wasn’t sure why, probably because he was keeping more secrets than when he was eight. 

“Why did no one want me”

“Most people aren’t looking to adopt an eighteen year old Keith”

“What about when I came here, and all the years before I was eighteen, and James and Kinkade got adopted when they were older, so what’s wrong with me”

She pulled at the grass and sat there, Keith let her think.

“I don’t know Keith, I really don’t, I think you’re great, I don’t know if you believe that, if I had a place other than the orphanage or more money to buy a house, I’d adopt you”

“You basically already have Sister, you raised me”

She reached out a ruffled his hair.

“Getting long”

She was trying to change the subject, Keith was fine with that.

“Yeah, I like it long though, I think it looks better”

“I never said it was bad, just long”

Keith packed up all of his things a few months later. He put the boxes in the back of the truck he paid for with his job at Docs Autobody and Repair Shop. He worked overtime to be able to pay for it, fifty hours a week. It could have been a lot worse, he managed.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is where he chose to go, it was a four year engineering school that had earth and atmospheric sciences. Keith wanted to build rockets for a living.

The day he left, he cried in Josephine’s arms. She ended up crying also. The other kids stared at them as Sister Alice waited in the car for him.

“I’ll come back Josephine, for Christmas, and any other time okay, I’ll just call alright”

That made her cry harder.

“You’ve just grown so much, sorry, is just a lot”

“Thank you, I don’t think you know how grateful I am that you took care of me all these years”

She smiled and held him at arm's length.

“I’m glad I got to, don’t change too much on me alright, maybe don’t get into any fights, that’d be nice”

He laughed.

“Bye Josephine”

“Bye Keith, I’ll see you when you come back okay, call me”

He had climbed into the passenger's side of the car, he waved and buckled his seat belt. He sat back and looked at the three story building, noticed the cracks in the brick, and how the arch to the door missing pieces, how the flowers looked healthier than ever, he didn’t want to cry again.

He couldn’t believe he was leaving home.

———————————

College was a lot better than high school, most people kept to themselves and no one bullied Keith, always a plus. 

It was months before the guy with light brown hair that was always pulled into a ponytail and sat two rows behind him introduced himself after class.

“Hey, I’ve noticed you sitting in front of me for like three months and you haven’t said a word to anyone, I’m Matthew Holt, everyone just calls me Matt”

“Keith”

His face lit up and he pointed, he mouthed to someone behind him “his name is Keith”.

He ended up spending most of his time in college in Matt’s room, that’s how he met Shiro. Shiro didn’t say much, but Keith liked him, he was funny when he was drunk. Keith and Matt were working on their work together, Shiro was just sitting on Matt’s couch, staring at his phone.

“Boy trouble, big man”

“Maybe, I think Adam’s mad at me”

“Who’s Adam”

Keith knew little about their private lives, they didn’t know anything about his either.

“My boyfriend”

“They break up every other week”

Matt whispered it so Shiro wouldn’t hear. Keith wasn’t sure what to say about it.

“Then why are they still together”

“I don’t fucking know, that’s wrong, your equation’s messed up”

Just like that the conversation was dropped.

Days later, Matt’s friend, Allura busted through their door, nearly giving Keith a heart attack.

“I have an idea”

“Oh no”

Shay was trailing behind her. He didn’t really know Shay that well, he just knew she was one hell of a cook and that her and Allura were close.

“I saw this campground for sale”

“No”

Shiro didn’t even hesitate, the second it came out of Allura’s mouth he denied it. 

“You didn’t let me finish Takashi, as I was saying, it’s super cheap and I promise it won’t be a financial burden, I just saw it on the Facebook marketplace, and thought it was perfect, we could invite kids there, please listen to me”

“Allura, we don’t have the money, or time for that, I have to study, Keith has to study, Matt could go into space literally any moment and and you want to start a summer camp”

That’s how they ended up in Alabama. 

Now he was Keith Kogane, Red cabin counselor, who had to look after three kids. Why did Keith agree to this? Because Allura had practically begged him to.

Lance McClain was gonna be the death of him. He wished they never met honestly. His tanned skin and golden brown hair were all Keith could think about. 

“Why the fuck are you acting weird”

“I’m not River”

“Yes you are, something is wrong”

She was staring at him from her bunk. Her feet swayed in the air as she rested her chin in her hands.

“Nothing is wrong”

“We are not doing this, not talking about your feeling are bad and you will eventually lose it because you’re already acting weird, spill”

Keith looked at her then grunted.

“Fine, it’s not like you’ll know the answer anyway, how do you know, how do you know when you like someone”

River’s mouth dropped, then she started laughing.

“You like Lance, holy shit”

“I-I think so yeah, I, yeah, I do”

River tried to hold in her laughter, she failed pretty bad.

“Okay”

Reznor sounded more bored than he usually did.

“What do you want us to do about it”

“Help me, somehow, what do I do”

“We’re fourteen, Ike is ten, we know nothing about love or relationships, I don’t know what you want me to say, just tell him, I don’t know”

Keith banged his head on his pillow. He flipped over onto his back dramatically.

“Oh my god, quit, just take your time, ease into it, do little things like hold his hand or something, I really don’t know Keith, that’s my best advice”

“Hold his hand”

“Yes, or kiss him, I don’t know, do what you want to, your love life is not gonna be in my hands bud”

Ike sat next to him and tapped his leg.

“Maybe give him something, my mom likes it when my dad gives her flowers, give him flowers”

“I don’t know if he likes flowers”

Ike picked up his hand and traced the lines on his fingers.

“Everyone likes flowers Keith, that’s common knowledge”

Something crashed outside, Keith’s eyes flicked to the door, he stood up.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back”

Keith walked outside with a flashlight and shined them in the direction of the trash cans. A pair of raccoons looked up at him, their eyes glowed back at him.

“Get, stupid raccoon go”

He shooed the coons away, or tried to at least. The ugly thing growled at him, it’s canines looked sharp.

“Fuck off”

It kept growling. Keith grabbed the lid of the trash can and threw it at the coon. It hit the coon and rolled away, the coon lunged at him. He really thought he would have to get a rabies shot. His eyes closed but he never felt anything. His eyes opened and a dog was standing in front of him.

“What is going on”

The dog growled as he shook his head back and forth, one of the coons was in his mouth. 

“Hey boy, come here”

His mouth was covered with blood, a dead coon sat at his feet. He walked up to Keith and nudged against his leg. Keith patted his head.

“Ew, do not bring that mutt into the cabin”

“Why not, clean him up, and he’ll be fine”

“It might have rabies”

Keith wiped the blood from the dogs mouth and opened the door for him.

“He doesn’t have rabies, come on boy, inside”

“You don’t know that, out”

The dog looked up at her and hopped onto the bad that Ike was staying in. He licked Ike’s face, Ike laughed and held onto the dog.

“Hi doggy, what’s his name”

The dog looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, he was skinny, rib bones jutted outward, but his little eyes twinkled bright, like the stars. He probably didn’t have a home, it made Keith laugh.

“Kosmo”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had the next chapter in mind since the beginning of this story, literally since the very first chapter. I’m probably gonna cry while writing it, but anyway. I’ve also probably said this before but it’s just blows my mind that I never planned on starting chapter two, but here I am at chapter twenty, about to start chapter twenty one. I just pictured the scene I’m about to write in my head, but I’m actually going to write the scene. I’m glad I continued writing this story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (Sorry for the little rant or whatever this is)


	21. The Rise of Two Kings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cried while writing this chapter, in class, my anatomy teacher made fun of me, he’s cool though. I don’t even know why I cried. I have been waiting to write this chapter forever though. I really hope you enjoy it!

Lance thought the dog was ugly. He also smelled bad, like wet dog and skunk, disgusting.

“Kosmo isn’t that bad, he’s kind of cute, look at his cute little face”

Charlotte held Kosmo’s face in her hands and cooed at him, he licked her face.

“Maybe Lance isn’t a dog person”

“He has a dog, he’s a dog person”

“How do you know that”

They were all sitting around Kosmo in the mess hall. Keith was petting him behind his ears.

“He told me, a little bit ago”

“What else do you know that we don’t”

“His middle names is Charles”

Lance sighed and hit Keith lightly in the arm. Keith laughed.

“That’s not even that bad Lance”

“Okay, it’s past bedtime, go back to your cabins, don’t groan about it, you got stay up late”

“Shiro, quit being such an asshole, damn”

Keith said it without looking at him, Charlotte continued to make kissy faces at Kosmo.

“I am not being an asshole, I just said it was time to sleep”

“None of us go to bed this early anyway”

River sat next to Reznor on the floor, she hadn’t touched Kosmo, she hadn’t really paid much attention to him.

“Just a few minutes Shiro”

“Fine, ten more minutes, then to your cabins okay, I can’t believe we found a dog, I don’t know if we can have pets in our apartment Keith”

“We can keep it a secret if not, it’s good”

Shiro sighed and sat, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You’re paying for everything, alright”

Keith didn’t answer and just hugged the dog, he kissed the dog's black fur. Lance thought it cute.

“Where’s it sleeping”

“He’s sleeping with me I guess, the floor, where ever he wants, I don’t know”

“It’s wet and ugly Keith, it is not staying in the cabin”

Keith looked at.

“Well sorry, he’s staying in our cabin, come on kids, Cosmo, come on boy”

The dog perked up and stood with Keith, his tongue hung out of his mouth as he trotted behind Keith, tail wagging violently.

“Ugh, ugly fucking dog, it’s gonna smell like wet dog in our cabin now”

“He’s not that bad River, and he makes Keith happy, don’t you like seeing Keith happy, you always complain about moody Keith, he’s not moody right now”

River looked like she was trying to stare holes into Reznor's head. 

“Shut the fuck up”

“Good insult”

Ike had followed Keith out of the cabin. Lance shook his head.

“Okay, back to bed, we don’t want Shiro to be an ass in the morning because we won’t get up, come on, back to the cabin we go”

The kids groaned.

“Lance is right”

Pidge joined Lance, she was standing at his side.

“Angry Shiro is not a good Shiro, so to bed with all of you”

She waved at everyone else in the cabin.

“Night everyone”

The room filled with goodbyes and different ways to say good night. Lance held the door open for everyone, it shut with a bang behind him. 

“I can’t believe that dog ripped apart a coon, do you think Keith was lying”

“No, he was probably telling the truth, that doesn’t seem like something Keith would lie about”

Anthony laughed.

“Of course you would know the types of things Keith would lie about”

“That makes no sense Anthony, be quiet”

Anthony threw himself on his bed, he looked at Lance from his bunk.

“Are you gonna hang with Keith tonight”

“Yes, I plan to”

Charlotte sat next to Anthony on his bed, she had a smile on her face.

“I kind of miss the days where you guys fought everyday, it was more interesting I feel”

“I don’t, he literally punched me, I don’t want to go back there”

“I mean yeah”

Amber walked out of the bathroom and sat by Lance.

“But it was fun to lock you guys in the closet, I really thought you were gonna kill each other, but look you’re alive”

Lance definitely felt alive, his veins felt like electric currents ran through them, they brought the shocks to his heart and kept him alive. 

“Ah look at you, are you thinking about Keith”

Amber poked him in the side.

“No, I’m not thinking about Keith”

“Liar, I can see it in your eyes, they soften everytime you think about him”

Lance rolled his eyes at her.

“No they don’t”

“How would you know, you can’t see your eyes soften”

“Shut up Charlotte, and get ready for bed, or Shiro gonna yell at us”

They laughed together.

“Why so you can go make out with Keith again”

Lance didn’t say anything, he just climbed into bed.

“Turn off the lights when you’re done”

“Why do you pretend to fall asleep”

Anthony said it with a mouth full of toothpaste.

“Just leave now, we know you go”

“Keith won’t be there till later, he waits for me outside”

“Oh, of course that’s why”

Charlotte snickered. Teenagers, god damn.

“Shush, bedtime”

———————————————

Lance actually waited for Keith at the lamppost. Kosmo came barreling out the door, Keith caught the door just in time for it not to slam. He looked at Lance with large eyes.

“Fuck, Kosmo sit, that could have been bad”

Kosmo sat by Keith’s feet, his tail thudded on the ground.

“You could just say you were taking Kosmo out, not a complete lie”

“Not wrong”

Kosmo lunged forward. Keith followed him.

“Kosmo, this way boy, fucking dumbass”

Lance laughed and tried to keep up with them. He tripped on twigs and sticks along the way, but never fell. He did get hit in the head with a branch though.

“I’m gonna shove your ass in the cabin if you’re not good okay”

Keith didn’t reach in his pocket for his key, he instead wiped his hands on his shirt and looked at Lance. A smile on his face. 

“Follow me, I wanna show you something, I hope you don’t hate it”

Lance raised his eyebrows but followed Keith without questions. Keith took him back to the clearing. The trees seemed thicker and more flowers, though they were hard to see in the dark, surrounded the clearing. Stars litter the sky, the moon was full.

“Sit down”

Keith pulled at the grass then let it go. Lance sat down by him, his weight was all on his arms. 

“Why are we out here”

Keith laid down, his face was facing the sky, drops of sweat rolled down his temple and met his hair he breathed slowly. Purple eyes look up at him.

Lance laid down by him. Their shoulders touched. Lance stared at the sky for what seemed like an eternity.

“Keith, what the fuck are we looking for”

“Hush, be patient”

It took a few minutes of them being silent for a shooting start to fall. Lance didn’t know what to wish for, he was pretty happy at the moment, he wished that his dad was a good person a good, it was a stupid wish.

“How’d you know that would hap-“

Keith shushed him and pointed back up at the sky. Another star, then another fell. Lance stayed quiet.

“Perseids”

Keith said after a few minutes of them watching.

“We’ll see about fifty to seventy meteors, maybe, it’s a give or take, I just wanted you to see it”

“How’d you know it was gonna happen”

“I keep it on the calendar”

Lance laughed.

“Of course you do, nerd, it’s pretty though, never seen anything like it”

“I kept you in mind when I saw the date, I think you’re like asteroids, so beautiful you only see something like it maybe once in a lifetime”

Lance didn’t hear what Keith said at first. He was too busy staring at the sky. He didn’t answer for a few minutes till it hit him. His heart clenched up, he could hear it beating in his ears.

“Keith did you”

Lance sat up and looked at Keith. A small dusting of blush covered his cheeks. He didn’t look at Lance, just continued to look at the sky. Keith didn’t say anything for a while.

“I-I said you were pretty Lance, I”

Keith took a deep breath, the blush had spread to his neck. He still wouldn’t look at Lance.

“Keith”

“I’ve thought that since I hit you that day, I-I know we weren’t close then, not really but, just something about you the second before I hit you went to my heart, and I’ve felt that before so I know what it is, and it scared me, so I didn’t say anything to anyone because Shiro has never been much good with things like this and Allura doesn’t know shit about relationships, I don’t know Pidge or Hunk that well, Coran can’t keep his mouth shut, so I didn’t know who to talk to about it, and it’s just been sitting in my heart for that long and I just, it scares me because, because I-, I can’t handle rejection”

Lance stared at Keith. His eyes searched Keith’s face for any sign that he was lying, he couldn’t read Keith’s emotions right now.

“I’m really fucking sorry about it, I never meant to fall in love with you, it just happened, and I know you probably don’t feel the same and that’s fine, I’ll live with it, you’ve never even talked about liking anyone so I don’t know if you could even like me, and I told myself that over and over, but I still can’t stop liking you, and it kind of hurts, but I’ll be okay if you reject me, promise”

Keith continued to go on his rant about liking him. He liked Lance, he said he fell in love with him. Keith was in love with Lance. It hit Lance hard. He didn’t really see it coming, there might have been signs, Lance tried to look for them in his memories.

“And I talked to the kids about it, Ike said to give you something, but I didn’t have anything to give you, so I was just hoping that I’d tell you and you’d let me down easy”

Keith was in love with. Love, l, o,v, e. Like really in love with him. 

“Just please let me down easy because I’ve never liked anyone as much as I like you, and I, I don’t know what to do right now honestly, but, I’m- I’m in love with you, Lance”

Keith’s smile was a nervous one, Lance watched his fingers bounce on his leg. What the fuck was he supposed to say.

“Uh, mierda Keith, I’m, ha, I-I, why”

Keith looked at him for a minute, he looked seconds away from crying.

“What”

“Why are you, in love with me”

Keith’s mouth quirked up at the corners. He barked out a laugh, his head hung, hair fell into his eyes.

“I- god damn it Lance, you are the only person I’ve ever met that would ask why”

“I-I’ve never, I’m, what”

Their eyes met again, Keith rolled his eyes.

“I just told you I love you, and you asked me why”

Keith cupped Lance’s jaw in his hand, Lance’s heart sped up more.

“Why, I- I don’t know, not really, I just know you put butterflies in my stomach when you talk, and that I think you’re beautiful, your eyes and how soft your skin looks drew me in I guess”

Keith’s eyes kept flicking from his eyes to his lips. This felt like a dream.

“Sorry if that’s not the answer you wanted”

Keith whispered it, Lance put his hand above Keith's heart, he could feel it beating against his chest. They were close enough that Lance could feel Keith breathing.

“I never thought I’d hear anyone say they loved me”

It was the truth. Other than his mother, he never even dreamed of hearing someone say those three little words to his face. He could feel Keith chuckle.

“I love you Lance”

Lance lifted his head up and tilted it. Their lips met, Keith’s were chapped, it only made it feel more real. Keith sighed and put his hands on Lance’s hips, one of Lance’s hands threaded itself through Keith’s hair. Keith pressed his lips harder to Lance’s.

When they pulled away Lance was slightly out of breath, Keith’s whole face was red. He laughed again and brought his lips to Lance’s again. Lance could feel him smile against his lips. The stubble around Keith’s mouth was itchy.

“Fuck, your stubble is scratchy”

“Sorry”

Keith didn’t sound very sorry. Lance laid back on the grass, stars were still falling above them.

“Shit Keith, never, in a million years, did I think that I would find myself kissing you under a bunch of falling rocks”

Keith grabbed his hand, his thumb stroked the back of it, it brought his hand up to kiss it. The same mouth that had just been on his. Lance thought he was going to explode right here.

“Did you hate it”

“If I hated it”

Lance laughed.

“I would have punched you in the mouth”

Keith laughed and brought their mouths back together. Alpine wood, mint, and boy surrounded Lance’s senses. He was definitely fucking dreaming. This could never happen to him in real life. It felt surreal.

It was crazy how he went from thinking Keith hated him to kissing him in the middle of the forest. He didn’t want to quit. Keith pulled back, Lance went to follow him, Keith stopped him.

“If you don’t give me a minute, I’m gonna suffocate”

Lance laid his head down on Keith’s shoulder, Lance listened to their breathing. He turned his head and kissed his neck lightly. 

“Don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy, Lance”

“Me either, Kenneth, me either”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah!! They kissed, finally!! I loved writing this chapter, I really hoped you enjoyed it. They probably aren’t gonna talk about it after, I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see. Thank you for reading!!


	22. Thunder and Afternoon Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t like this chapter as much as the last one, but y’know, happens sometimes. Just how life goes. I don’t know how many more chapters I’m gonna have, maybe ten, I’m not sure yet. The thought of this story ending scares me. One chapter at a time I guess. I hope you enjoy this one!

They made out under the stars for what felt like an entity. Keith pulled back when they could hear Kosmo barking. 

“He probably needs to be let out”

“Or wants to be let out, there’s a different, trust me”

Keith laughed against Lance's lips and pecked his lips once more before pulling back completely. He stood up and offered his hand to Lance, he pulled Lance up with ease.

They walked to the cabin, the second Keith opened the door Kosmo shot out. His tail wagged as he jumped on Keith and Lance. 

“Kosmo down, you’re gonna have to be quiet, okay”

“The kids are probably awake anyway, they’ve been waiting for me every night since Amber saw me sneak out”

“They know about it”

Keith tried to sound like he wasn’t worried about them knowing. His voice cracked at the end. As they walked back their hands touched. Lance thought about it.

“They know I’m with you right now, not where though”

Keith hummed, Lance glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Keith interlocked their pinkies, their hands swayed together.

“I wouldn’t care if they knew”

“Did you tell your kids about the cabin”

Keith shook his head.

“They know that I like you, I’ve never said anything about the cabin to them, don’t plan to”

Kosmo ran ahead of them, he ran in zigzags and looked back at them every once in a while to see if they were still following him. It made Lance smile.

“I like it when you smile, makes me want to”

“Then why don’t you”

Keith chuckled.

“I am smiling idiot”

He stopped and smiled for Lance. Lance wanted to kiss it off his face. The trees soon become less dense, moonlight shone through the branches. It illuminated the path out of the woods. The dirt path suddenly became a wider road as it met the campgrounds. Keith leaned against the light pole. Lance watched him take a deep breath.

“What now”

“I-I don’t know, I’ve never done anything like this before, my mom had a strict no girls rule growing up, so I’ve never done things like make out with someone”

Keith laughed.

“You’ve never kissed anyone before, you sure”

“She didn’t say no kissing, she said no girls, there’s a difference”

Keith stopped smiling.

“Everything okay”

“Am I confusing you”

“No Keith, I mean I’ve never liked a boy before, but I’m not confused, I wouldn’t have kissed you back if I didn’t-“

Did Lance love Keith? He didn’t really know, maybe that’s what the feeling in his stomach every time he thought about Keith was. Lance didn’t really know what love was. He used to read books with romance and he’d sit with his mom in the living room while she watched her shitty soap operas. That wasn't real though. 

“Good, that’s good”

Keith pecked Lance’s lips lightly.

“You don’t have to say anything else okay, take your time, I’ll be here”

“Even after the summer”

Keith looked so vulnerable in the moment, like a feather could break all of his bones.

“If you’ll let me, sleep good okay, I love you, holy shit”

He whispered the last part. Keith walked to his cabin, he shooed Kosmo in and waved at Lance. Lance was soon left by himself, standing like an idiot in the middle of the campgrounds. He eventually shook himself out of it and walked in. The second he stepped through the door, the lights flipped on. All the kids' faces looked shocked.

“Did he kiss you, what the fuck”

“Are his lips soft”

“They were chapped”

They lost it. All of them shouted different things at Lance. Anthony was shaking him back and forth.

“Quit it, we’ll talk about it tomorrow”

“You’re just trying to get say nothing about it aren’t you, I don’t believe you, tell us now”

Lance climbed in bed and looked at Anthony.

“We will, just ask me in the morning, I have to think about it for a bit, okay”

“I’m reminding you first thing in the morning, I hope you know that, you are not getting away with not telling us anything”

Charlotte practically shouted it at him.

“I just want you to know”

Amber climbed into her bed.

“We were kidding when we said you were making out with Keith, but I guess we were right”

“It’s new”

Anthony scoffed.

“Yeah, you could tell”

Lance mumbled a shut up as he turned on his stomach. He should give Keith his shirt back.

“I can’t believe you kissed Keith in front of us”

“It wasn’t in front of you, you were just watching us, like a bunch of weirdos”

They laughed together.

“To be fair, you kissed right outside the window, I can’t believe Klance is canon”

“Shut up”

Everyone eventually fell asleep, it took quite a bit of fighting from Lance’s side though. They kept pestering Lance with questions, a lot of them Lance didn’t know the answer to. He finally got them to calm down. They could hear the quiet patter of rain hit the windows.

“Please sleep, I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, okay, I said I would”

They fell asleep after that. Lance listened to Ambers snoring. His heart beating kept him awake. He couldn’t believe they kissed, the thoughts in his head sounded like a broken record. He kissed me, we kissed.

He’d have to tell his family about it, eventually, maybe. He didn’t think they would respond well, no one in his family knew anyone that was, gay. Lance didn’t even know if he was gay. Luis used to bully this scrawny kid when he was in eighth grade, he called the kid a faggot. Lance asked his mom what it meant after school that day. Luis had gotten in trouble for it. His dad already hated Lance enough, him being gay would just add to the hate he felt towards him. He wasn’t even gonna get started with how his grandparents would feel.

Shit.

Was Keith worth all that? Being hated by his family, they were family. They couldn’t hate him. Well, hopefully. Was being the outcast of his family worth it, Lance didn’t know if he could put everything he knew behind him. 

Then the distance. Three and a half days. How many days a year would they even see each other? The summer was probably all they would get, maybe Christmas. That could be enough for Lance. His family didn’t have to know either. He had never lied to his mother before, he could make an exception for Keith. 

His family would probably find out anyway. He could figure it all out then. Lance could do that. He would like to do that. He was probably thinking too hard about everything. 

He eventually fell into a dreamless sleep to the pitter patter of rain hitting the window.

————————————————

It was pouring outside when Lance woke up. He checked his phone, the time read 12:23.

He groaned and sat up. 

“Morning Lance”

He practically jumped out of his skin. He turned his head to look at Charlotte, who was hanging down from her bunk to look at Lance. Her brown hair waved in the air as she moved around.

“Good morning Charlotte”

“It’s raining outside still, pouring pretty hard”

Lance grunted and rubbed his eyes. Anthony jumped onto his bed, knocked Lance down and laid across his chest.

“Get off me”

“We’ve been awake for hours, just chatting”

Lance paused. He had to tell them about Keith today, didn’t he. He told them we would.

“What do you want to do today”

“We found monopoly in the bathroom closet, we thought about starting without you, but we didn’t want to be ahead of you, and then there wouldn’t be any places for you to buy, you’d be stuck with the brown ones, so we decided to wait for you to wake up”

Lance was going to destroy them in Monopoly. 

They sat in between the beds. Lance was chosen as the banker, of course he was, he was the best at counting money. They played where they had to go one time around before buying property. Charlotte bought every property she landed on.

“That is a horrible strategy Charlotte, you’re gonna go bankrupt”

“Amber, you’re on my property”

She cussed under her breath and paid Lance. Anthony rolled.

“So Lance”

Anthony moved five spaces ahead and handed the dice to Amber.

“You told us you’d tell us about you and Keith, so spill”

“We kissed”

Amber rolled and moved, she quickly passed the dice to Charlotte, Charlotte didn’t notice Amber had landed on her property.

“That’s it, just once”

“A few times”

Anthony giggled.

“Ah, you lucky bitch”

“Anthony, what the fuck”

Anthony gave him a scary smile. Lance hated it. Charlotte moved six spaces and passed go, she got her two hundred dollars from Lance.

“Are you jealous that I agree Keith is hot, his eyes Lance, I’ve never seen anything like them, I could look in them all day”

“I just want you to know he’s twenty one, a little old for you, don't you think”

Anthony shook his head.

“Jake Gyllenhaal is thirty nine, and I think he’s sexy, Keith is way younger than that”

Amber whispered, oh my god, under her breath.

“I’m gonna ignore you”

“Why’d you kiss, you guys going from punching to kissing is throwing me off”

Lance laughed at that.

“We’ve been talking quite a bit since then, I know him a lot better now, he’s still pretty quiet though, I don’t mind”

“Did you tell him how you feel”

Lance was quiet for a second.

“What do you mean”

“What do you mean what do I mean, your feelings, that you like Keith, did you tell him that”

Lance landed on one of Anthony’s properties, he was hoping Anthony didn’t notice.

“I don’t know if I like Keith”

The three of them stared at him. Lance could feel himself shrink in on himself. 

“Uhm, what”

“I mean, I wouldn’t have kissed him if I didn’t like him, right, so maybe I do like Keith, so I’m not straight, right”

Anthony glanced at the pride flag that hung over his bed and smiled.

“Okay, I get it, I’ve felt exactly like you have okay, it’s confusing, that’s just part of it, if you like Keith you aren’t straight, and that’s okay, I’m not either, Keith isn’t, Shiro isn’t, a lot of people aren’t, and if you aren’t straight then, you’re not straight”

He thought about it for a second, he liked Keith, he wasn’t straight. 

“My family, won’t get it, at least I don’t think they will, they mean a lot to me, abuela won't be okay with, my dad won’t either, my oldest brother probably won’t accept it either, I don’t want them to hate me”

“I came out this year, about four months ago, before we came here, they didn’t really respond but Amber told me that our mom wasn’t very accepting, but she didn’t say it to my face so”

Anthony shrugged at that.

“Dad wasn’t very happy that she didn’t accept me, they’ve been fighting a lot before we came here. Amber found divorce papers on dads night stand, I don’t really know, but I think they’re connected”

Lance was trying to figure how this was supposed to help him feel better. Anthony must have been able to see the confusion, because he sighed.

“Mom doesn’t act any different towards me, she’s still nice, and says she loves me, the point I’m trying make is that, they’re your family, and even if they’re confused about it, or don’t like that you like boys, they still love you, even if they don’t love that part of you, it’s the same Lance as before, just a little gayer”

Lance didn’t know if he felt any better about it. 

“What if they do hate me after”

His dad already did hate him, gay or not. Lance didn’t think his mom was capable of hating him at least, his little cousins wouldn’t get it.

“You’ll have to change how they think about gay people, I’ll be working on that with mom after I get back home, it might take a while and might not work, but it’s worth a shot, it’s not like you can change how you feel”

Amber rolled the die, Anthony didn’t notice Lance was on his property.

“Sounds like a shit ton of work”

“It is, but, it’s worth it in the end”

Lance was quiet for a minute. He rolled and moved, but didn’t say anything, they played for a while. Lance thought about what Anthony had said.

“I like Keith”

He said after a while, everyone glanced up at him.

“Yep”

Charlotte popped the p.

“Sounds like it”

“And I’m not straight”

“You're not”

Lance thought about it. He groaned and flopped back on the hardwood floor.

“You don’t have to figure everything out today Lance, you have the rest of your life to figure it out, just do what feels right now, live in the moment, don’t think about the future”

“It’s stressful”

Anthony smiled.

“No one said life was easy Lance”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Lance’s thoughts and how Anthony and Ambers parents reacted to him coming out, may of come from personal experience. Coming out isn’t as scary as I thought it was gonna be though, I’ve been out for two and half years now. Time flys fast. I might take a little break and come back too, I haven’t decided yet. Probably not, I’ve really enjoyed writing so, I don’t know. We’ll see. I hope you enjoyed! (Today is Keith’s birthday by the way, so, happy birthday Keith Kogane I guess)


	23. Under the Moonlight With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter, I really liked writing it. I’m gonna say more at the end so, enjoy :).

Charlotte ended up winning.

“You literally cheated, how the fuck did you win”

“How do you cheat in Monopoly”

“I don’t know Charlotte, how do you cheat in Monopoly”

Lance had gone bankrupt quite a while ago, he sold all of his properties, but was still screwed at the end, he also couldn’t take a loan because no more properties were left so he had no way of making money. He watched as everyone else played, making sure to point out whenever Charlotte landed on someone’s property. She still managed to win somehow.

“I didn’t cheat, I’m just good at monopoly”

“Ugh, whatever”

Anthony had also gone bankrupt, he was able to get two hundred dollars from Amber when she landed on his one property, but had to give it to Charlotte when he landed on her Boardwalk, which had two hotels.

Amber yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“That was the longest game of monopoly I have ever played, in my life”

The rain had stopped about ten minutes ago. They played monopoly for about two hours. Lance wanted to sleep. 

“We should probably see what everyone else is doing”

They all groaned and stretched out their legs. Lance helped Anthony stand. Charlotte stretched her hands over her head. When Lance opened the door the first thing he noticed was that it was really muddy out, the next thing he noticed was everyone standing around the fire pit.

“What’s going on”

“We’re trying to decide what we’re gonna do now”

Shiro sighed.

“I planned to light a fire tonight but I don’t know if we can, don’t have anything to light a fire with anyway”

“Why couldn’t we light a fire”

“It’s wet outside Charlotte”

Keith said it like it was common knowledge, Lance didn’t know how it being wet outside had anything to do with their ability to light a fire.

“We can’t light a fire with wet firewood”

“We can try Keith, I think it’s a good thing to try, please”

Keith looked at her for a while, he glanced at Shiro, who shrugged.

“Fine, we’ll pick up sticks, it’s not gonna work, but we can”

——————————————

Charlotte spent time gathering everyone, minus Keith and Lance, and bringing them to the mess hall. They now stood around a table, everyone was staring at Charlotte.

“Why are we here”

“Okay, so I have a plan, and I need everyone on board”

River scoffed.

“Your last plan was horrible, why should we follow this one”

“The last one worked though didn’t it”

River shrugged. She didn’t say anything after that.

“So, Lance and Keith like each other”

Hunk laughed. It was loud, he looked at Charlotte like she was crazy.

“Since when, they fight all the time”

“They don’t really”

Allura looked at the ceiling as she spoke. Her eyebrows were close together.

“Lately, ever since they were locked in the closet, they haven’t been fighting, at all, Keith has been surprisingly nice to everyone, even Lance”

Hunk thought about it.

“I-I guess you’re right, I didn’t even notice, huh, they seriously like each other”

“Well Lance told us he did”

Anthony had his feet up on the table, his elbows were on the bench.

“They’ve been hanging out with each other at night”

Everyone but Red and Blue Cabin looked confused.

“What do you mean”

“Lance comes back at like three every night, it’s because he’s been with Keith”

They looked over at Amber. 

“Keith has also said he liked Lance, that was a little while ago, it’s pretty easy to tell that though, so”

Everyone’s head turned from Amber to River. Pidge laughed after a while, everyone but Blue and Red cabin joined in. They stopped laughing after the six of them didn’t join in.

“We’re being serious”

Reznor moved his hair out of his eyes and leaned back against the table, his elbows sat on top of the wooden surface. His voice sounded as bored as it usually did.

“Keith asked us how you know you like someone, so we gave him advice, I just told Keith to kiss him, I think he did that, I didn’t care honestly, but I know he’s been weird lately so, what’s new though”

Shiro looked out the window to see if he could see one of the two.

“There is no way Keith is gonna ask him out, he’s weird about stuff like this”

“And Lance is just figuring stuff out, so if we don’t do anything, they’re gonna be stuck in this weird phase and neither of them will make a next moved, so they’ll just be whatever they are now, that’s why-“

Shiro cut Charlotte off with his fake hand.

“We are not interfering in their relationship, we should let them figure things out on their own”

“Shiro, you have known Keith longer than we have, right”

River looked at him with hooded eyes, she waited for his answer.

“Yeah, but we still shouldn’t be-“

“So you know he’s a weirdo”

“Keith can be a little weird yes, but that doesn’t mean-“

River rolled her eyes.

“He’s not gonna do this on his own, and that’s okay, I don’t want him leaving here regretting that they just kissed and nothing else, I know Keith doesn’t want that, so I’m gonna interfere because I care about Keith”

Shiro looked at her for what felt like forever before he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What’s your plan”

River smiled at him.

“Glad you’re on board Shiro, our plan is set Keith and Lance up on a date, we’re calling it operation Klance, that’s not that bad now is it”

Shiro sighed.

————————————————

“We are the only people out here, y’know that”

Lance’s back was hurting from bending down to pick up sticks. He looked over to where Keith was standing, about twenty feet away from him, his hair was pulled into a little ponytail.

“I didn’t notice”

Lance threw more sticks on their pile. Keith looked over at it and shook his head.

“We can’t light a fire with these, Shiro knows that, Charlotte knows that, we’re doing this for no reason Lance”

Lance pulled Keith up from the ground, he dusted Keith off and looked up at him.

“Why are we out here then”

“They’re talking about us Lance, they made up some stupid thing to keep us busy for a while so we couldn’t hear what they were saying”

Lance laughed at it.

“Why”

“I don’t know, I just know that all the sticks we picked up won’t be used for shit, because Shiro buys firewood every Tuesday so we can burn it, look over there”

Keith pointed to a big pile of wood, Lance just looked at it.

“I just know I’m tired of picking up sticks”

Keith sat down on a log, he put his elbows on his knees, his chin went in his hands. Lance sat by him.

“They’re plotting something, and it involves us, that makes me nervous, the possibilities are endless”

Lance picked up Keith’s hand and started tracing the lines in them. He looked up at Keith to see him chewing his nails off the other one.

“They wouldn’t do anything to hurt us, I’m sure it’s nothing Keith, you’re just overthinking it”

Keith dropped his hand from his mouth and sighed. He turned his head to look at Lance. 

“You’re right, I just don’t like that they’re talking about something that involves me and I don’t know what it is, y’know”

“Yeah, I guess, I’m not really worried about it, I didn’t even know they were talking about us till you said something so”

Lance brought his hand up to caress Keith’s cheek.

“Don’t think too hard about it okay, you’ll get grey hairs at twenty one if you continue to worry”

Keith laughed, he pushed his head into Lance’s hand, a smile was left on his face.

“I’m surprised I don’t already have grey hairs, life is stressful”

“Yeah, maybe that’s a good thing, you could have a full head of black hair when you’re ninety, that’s be kind of cool”

“I doubt it Lance”

Keith looked around Lance to see into the mess hall. 

“They’re lighting something on fire, or did it on accident, I’m not sure”

“On fire, really, that’s probably not good”

Lance turned to see the fire through the mess hall window, sure enough, there was a small flame illuminating Shiro’s face.

“If it was something bad, I’m sure we would know, I’m not really worried, just thought it was weird”

“Agreed, don’t know why they would play with fire inside”

Keith looked at Lance with large eyes.

“You shouldn’t play with fire at all Lance”

Lance shrugged.

Charlotte came bounding out of the mess hall. She waved at them and smiled.

“Hey guys”

“Hey”

She sat by Keith on the log. Her legs bounced up and down.

“It doesn’t look like you’re picking up sticks”

“We don’t need to pick up any sticks Charlotte, you know that”

She laughed and smiled at Keith. She stopped when Keith continued to glare at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Sure you don’t”

Charlotte swallowed and looked at Lance.

“I can help if you want”

“You can go pick up sticks if you want, have fun”

Charlotte looked between the two of them and clicked her tongue.

“Okay, I’ll be back”

They both watched as Charlotte ran back to the mess hall.

————————————————

“They’re onto us”

Charlotte busted into the mess hall. Shiro and Hunk were standing by a table, writing a grocery list, Allura and Pidge were setting up lanterns, everyone else was trying to untangle the garland.

“What did you do Charlotte, we should have sent River”

“Keith knows we don’t need sticks, so they’re just sitting on a log”

Shiro sighed.

“We shouldn’t have told Keith to do something so stupid, he’s not that dumb, damn it”

Allura gave Charlotte unmade lanterns.

“Start making them, if Keith isn’t doing anything he’s gonna get bored and come in here any minute so we don’t have a lot of time”

“Where are we putting them after they’re done”

Desmas hands were full of things.

“Put them in the closet, neither of them will look in there, especially after we locked them in it that one time”

Desma walked over to the closet.

“When are we setting stuff up, they can’t just watch us do it, that’ll ruin it”

“I’ll distract them”

Charlotte, who had been sitting on the floor making lanterns, spoke up.

“I’ll take them into the woods or something away from the campgrounds, that’ll buy you guys time to set everything up”

Shiro turned to Hunk.

“What are you cooking”

“Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, there is not a single person alive that doesn’t like Chicken Alfredo, so that’s the plan”

They looked around at each other and nodded.

“Operation Klance is a go, Charlotte, do your thing, at least an hour”

“I can pretend to be lost for that long, you got it”

They split up to do their thing. Charlotte ran back out to Keith and Lance.

“Hi, I’m back, did yah miss me”

“No”

Keith was laying on the ground, his head was leaning against Lance’s knee. They both glared at Charlotte.

“Okay, I have an idea, I found this path earlier”

Lance’s heart lurched. He could feel Keith’s breathing stop for a moment.

“It’s on the other side of the lake”

Lance let out a breath.

“I asked Shiro and he said that if you two agreed I could go down it, and I was really hoping that you guys would say yes”

Keith looked at Lance, his eyes begged him to say no, Lance sighed.

“Sure, why not”

“Lance are you fucking serious right now”

Keith scoffed.

“We can just come back anytime, it's not gonna hurt you to walk Kenneth, we’ll go Charlotte”

————————————————

They now stood in the middle of the woods, not knowing where the campgrounds were. The sun was also setting.

“It’s not gonna hurt you to walk Kenneth, look at us now Lance”

Keith stood with his hands on his hips. A stick broke under his feet as he shifted his weight from on foot to the other.

“I didn’t know we were gonna get lost”

The sun had started to set, a chill ran down Lance’s spine. Lance looked around and saw lights, that was a good sign.

“Lights”

Charlotte and Keith turned to look where Lance was pointing. They started to head towards the lights, Lance walking a little faster than everyone else.

“Thank god, I am starving, I really hope dinner is good tonight”

“Yeah, me too”

Lance looked back at Charlotte.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost Charlotte, you good”

“Yep, I’m fine”

Keith laughed.

“I hope you know Charlotte, I am never following you into the woods ever again, this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done, along with picking up sticks for no reason”

“I hope it’s worth it”

Both Keith and Lance laughed.

“Today has been so fucking confusing, I’m tired, at least it’s not raining, that’s a plus”

As they got closer to camp, Lance noticed that the lake was lit up, there were also things hanging from the trees. Lance continued to look around.

“What the fuck did you guys do”

“Something you two never would have, you can thank me later by the way”

As they walked towards the camp you could see Shiro standing by a boat that was on the shore. Little lanterns hung from the trees and floated in the lake. Keith laughed at his side.

“Did you guys really set us up on a date”

Lance could feel his face heat up. 

“Something like that, enjoy it, like I said, thank me later”

She waved and skipped to the mess hall. You could see her head poke through one of the windows. Keith rolled his eyes and cussed under his breath.

“I had nothing to do with this by the way, but enjoy your food, don’t drown”

Keith helped Lance into the boat, he followed after. He rowed them to the middle of the lake. Lance unwrapped the food from its tin foil covering. He sat one of them in front of Keith.

“It’s pretty, I can’t believe we didn’t catch on sooner”

“I knew they were doing something, just didn’t know what, I would have never guessed it was this though”

Keith laughed and looked around, softened eyes landed on him.

“It’s not so pretty as you though”

“Oh my fucking god Keith”

Lance could feel heat rise up his neck to his cheeks. He rolled his eyes.

“You’re an idiot”

Keith laughed. He looked up at the stars.

“I’ve never been on a date before”

“Are you serious”

Lance couldn’t believe it. Keith wasn’t ugly, he was kind of hard to talk to sometimes, and he could be weird, but he could pull someone at least.

“Seriously, I’ve never been on a date before, I’ve been short on money before and done things I’m not proud of, but I’ve never been on a real date, you’re the first”

The noodles were good as fuck, probably the best thing Lance had ever eaten. 

“I think you’re just antisocial Keith, that’s is crazy as fuck”

Keith scratched at his jaw, the side that his scar was on. Lance reached out and tapped the scar twice.

“How’d you get it”

“A saw broke and hit me in the jaw, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be able to talk again, but I can so, cut clean through my jaw”

“Holy shit, ew”

Keith shrugged.

“It could have been worse”

Keith poured Lance a glass of cranberry juice. Lance took a small sip out of it and set it down on the seat of the boat.

“This girl I go to school with is allergic to cranberries, she’s a bitch though, so, she deserves it”

“What’s her name”

“Emily, everyone makes fun of her because she has a white name, I don’t think it’s that bad, but”

“I had five Emily’s in my graduating class, it was horrible, I hated them all, two of them had a crush on me”

Everyone else was sitting in the mess hall, Shiro was standing by the window, he watched as Keith and Lance laughed.

“So, when did this happen”

He turned around to look at everyone.

“I don’t know, I’m confused too”

River rolled her eyes.

“As long as they’re happy Shiro, that’s all that matters, they pretty happy right now”

Everyone watched as Keith splashed Lance with water, Lance splashed Keith with more water.

“I guess you’re right River”

“When have I ever been wrong Shirogane”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter. I’ve finished planning the story. I have the rest thought out. It should take me a few weeks maybe to finish. Yeah, that scares me kinda, but I’ll get there when I get there. Thank you for reading!!


	24. Call From Another World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of boring, sorry. I didn’t have a lot for it, I like the beginning but not the ending. Oh well. It has Matt in it though. I don’t know if the makes it any better. I hope you enjoy!!

The kids were sent to bed by Shiro. He left Keith and Lance out on the lake.

“I’m still confused as to when all this happened”

“Me too Shiro, but”

They watched from a distance as Keith played with Lance’s hair, they could hear Lance laugh from their spot on the mess hall steps.

“They look happy, so you should be happy for him, he’s changed some you know”

Allura smiled at the lake.

“Obviously he’s changed, Allura, I- never mind”

“He’s gonna be fine Shiro, Lance isn’t a bad person, you should know that by now, he doesn’t want to hurt Keith ”

Shiro shook his head.

“I’m not worried about Lance”

Their eyes were stuck on the two boys in the lake, you could barely see them, they were just silhouettes. 

“You should have known that, I’m worried about Keith”

“That’s the reason you have grey hairs Shiro, let him live for a minute, he’s just enjoying himself, don’t you remember when you first met Adam, what that felt like”

Shiro did remember, he wished it was still like that.

“Yes”

“That’s what it’s like for them right now, he’s not gonna get hurt okay, quit worrying about him, and enjoy the rest of the summer, you should be enjoying your time off”

Shiro hated when she was right.

“You’re right, Keith can take care of himself, I’m just always worried about him, yah know, he’s stupid, and love makes people really stupid, I’d know”

Allura leaned her elbows against the wooden stairs, they creaked from the light pressure of her body weight. She didn’t say anything for a while, her blue eyes were fixated on the lake.

“You think they’re in love”

Shiro laughed. He didn’t look away from the lake.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen Keith look at anyone the way he does Lance, so maybe, what would I know about love though”

“You have a boyfriend Takashi”

Shiro grunted. He didn’t say anything after that. Allura sighed in response, she stood.

“I’m headed to bed, they aren’t gonna drown okay, you should probably head there soon”

“Should I tell them to come in”

Shiro’s dark eyes shifted to Allura’s, they held no emotion.

“Let them come in when they want, they can complain in the morning, I doubt they will though”

She looked towards the lake again, her lips spread into a smile. She giggled.

“Never in my life did I think I’d see Keith with a boy, I thought we’d see our little introvert die alone, guess I was wrong”

Shiro didn’t say anything else. Allura said her good nights and turned towards their sleeping quarters, Coran was already snoring up a storm.

“Keith dating, Christ almighty, never thought I’d live to see the day”

Allura tried to stay up and wait for Shiro to walk in.

He never did.

——————————————

“Don’t fall getting out of the boat”

“I’m not that clumsy”

Lance took Keith’s hand, Keith helped him out of the boat, Keith put his hands on Lance’s hips.

“I’ve seen you trip over your own feet, you could have fallen out of that boat Lance”

Lance’s fingers lightly touched Keith’s wrists. He could feel Keith’s breath against his face and his pulse beating rapidly against his finger tips.

“Thank you for tonight, it was perfect Keith”

Keith barely leaned forward so that their noses were touching. 

“You should thank Charlotte, not me, can’t believe a fifteen year old set us up on a date”

Lance laughed softly, his head turned up slightly, their lips brushed. Keith placed his hand on the back of Lance’s neck, it was kind of awkward, Lance didn’t care.

“Fuck”

Keith whispered it against Lance’s lips. 

“You good”

Lance was slightly out of breath. 

“Feels like a dream”

“It’s not”

Lance pinched Keith’s forearm.

“See, you’re awake Kenneth, I’m really here”

Lance put Keith's hands on his face. He smiled at Keith.

“I didn’t think anything like this would ever happen to me, just crazy I guess”

Keith looked at him like he was the only person in the world. It baffled Lance that anyone could ever look at him how Keith was in that moment, but there he was, with soft eyes and a smile on his face. It was just him and Keith.

Nothing else in the universe mattered.

“Should we go to the cabin”

Keith whispered it, he hadn’t let go of Lance’s face, his thumb stroked Lance’s cheek.

“They’re watching us, I’m probably gonna get bombarded with questions the second I walk through the door”

“They probably haven’t stopped watching us, fucking weirdos”

Keith looked behind Lance to look into the cabin, they couldn’t see anything but a curtain move from inside Blue Cabin. Lance chuckled.

“We’ll go tomorrow okay, they should act normal by then, sleep well okay”

Keith kissed his forehead and rubbed his arms. When Keith let go of him, he immediately felt colder.

“Good night Kenneth”

Keith smiled at him.

“Night Lance”

Lance watched as Keith walked back to his cabin, when he got to the steps he waved. Lance waved back. Lance didn’t head back till Keith was inside. Lance’s hand held onto the handle of the door, his forehead thudded lightly on the door. He took a breath and walked in.

The second he stepped through the door the lights flicked on. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces. Lance had begun to get ready for bed as their head followed him.

“So”

Anthony was smiling at him from his bed, the covers were around his waist.

“Did you like it”

“Yes Anthony, I did enjoy it”

Charlotte bounced on her bed, the wood creaked.

“I’m glad you did, we worked really hard to make sure it was nice”

“I know, thank you, probably never would have happened if it wasn’t for you guys, don’t know where I’d be right now”

Amber grunted.

“The food you guys had was definitely better than ours, we just had mac n cheese, I’m so tired of mac n cheese”

Lance laughed at that, a yawn followed.

“Tired lover boy, we’ll leave you alone so you can sleep”

“What are we doing tomorrow”

Lance had put on pajama pants in the bathroom, he looked at Amber after he climbed into bed.

“Every day is just as much of a mystery for me as it is for you, we’ll see tomorrow Amber”

Lance face planted into his pillow. He pulled up the covers.

“Good night Lance”

“Night Charlotte”

His answer was muffled by his pillow.

—————————————————

Instead of being woken up by the sirens, Lance was awoken by Pidge yelling outside.

“Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt”

She continued to chant his name and was running around the fire pit.

“Pidge”

Keith stepped outside in basketball shorts, he glared at Pidge.

“Shut the fuck up, it is way too early”

“It’s not actually that early, and Matt is calling today”

Lance put his hands in his pockets.

“Who’s Matt”

“He’s my brother, he’s calling from space”

Oh, Lance had heard his name before. It was pretty cool he was in space. Shiro had walked out of the cabin, his eyes were squinted.

“Why are you yelling, it’s not six o’clock yet, shut up”

“Matt is calling today, you know that, I’ve been waiting to hear what he has to say for months Shiro, since he left, and that day is here”

Keith groaned. His hair was sticking up, he was wearing black, square glasses, Lance thought he looked cute.

“Oh my fucking god”

Ike was standing by Keith, a small hand rubbed his eye. River glared at Pidge, she yawned after a second.

“Please shut up, it is too early for this”

“You wouldn’t get it River, what time is he supposed to call Shiro”

Shiro yawned before he answered.

“Seven thirty”

The alarm went off, everyone groaned and covered their ears. It eventually stopped.

“Well good morning everyone”

Coran met them by the fire pit.

“What a fine morning it is, and everyone looks so cheery”

Corans hands were on his hips, a smile spread across his face. Lance wished he lived in whatever world Coran had in his head. It seemed nice.

“It is Coran, Matt is calling”

“Wonderful, Mathew was excited to leave when he did, I’ll be glad to hear about it”

All the kids stood around while Pidge gushed about space and how her brother actually got to go there. 

“We have like less than an hour before he calls, I have to get ready”

“It doesn’t take you an hour to get ready usually”

Pidge shrugged.

“I know, I’ll get ready then calm myself down so Matt doesn’t call me a lunatic when he sees me”

Everyone watched as she ran back to her cabin. Keith yawned.

“Fuckin hell, well good mornin I guess”

He had more twang to his voice than he usually did, it was also deeper. He smiled at Lance, his eyes were hooded. Lance felt like he had been shot through the heart.

“Everyone get ready for the day, Hunk please start on breakfast, meet in the mess hall”

Everyone headed back to their cabins.

“Get dressed, I guess we’re meeting Matt today”

————————————

Everyone sat in the mess hall. Pidge bounced impatiently in front of an iPad, her pancakes sat untouched on the table.

“So why is she so excited”

Everyone was sitting close to the iPad. Red and Blue cabin sat at the same table. River was staring at Pidge.

“Her brother is calling from space”

Keith said it with a mouth full of pancake. Lance lightly hit his shoulder and glared at him.

“Chew your food”

Everyone ignored him.

“I don’t get why that’s so exciting, he’s in boring ass space, there is nothing up there but rocks, stars, and planets, boring”

River scoffed after.

“I think space is interesting, I’ve been waiting for Matt to call also, Pidge is just a bit more excited than I am”

Lance watched as Pidge shifted on one foot to her other, she kept checking the clock on the wall.

“How many people have you met that have gone to space River, not one, I think Pidge’s excitement is reasonable”

“He’s not gonna be late Pidge”

Shiro put his hand on her shoulder.

“Sit down for a minute, he’ll call when he calls, any minute now”

“That’s not soon enough Shirogane”

Shiro laughed, a second later the table rang.

“Matt”

A boy with brown hair and brown eyes popped up on the screen, he looked a lot like Pidge.

“Katie, holy shit, how are you doing”

“I’m good, you don’t look like you’re dying so, okay space talk”

Keith moved to the floor by the tablet. Shiro had also moved towards the tablet. Keith motioned for Lance to come over there.

“God damn, give me a minute to catch up”

There were objects floating around his head, be batted them away with his hand. Lance sat on the bench that was by Keith, Keith leaned his head on Lance’s knee.

“You looked tired Takashi”

“I am, haven’t been sleeping very well”

“I told you to try melatonin, you’re probably stressed so you can’t sleep”

Pidge interrupted them, she was practically bouncing off the walls.

“Okay, how close are you”

Matt laughed, he had straight teeth, and dimples on both sides. His hair was floating all around him.

“No where close, it’s takes nine years to get to Pluto Katie, you should know that, we’ve only been gone for two months, I’ve got a lot of time in space left”

“How different is it up there”

“It’s quiet, but really pretty, it’s unbelievable I’m up here, I never thought in a million years I’d make it up here, but here I am”

They started talking about something Lance didn’t understand. Something about Kerberos, Lance didn’t know what that was. Pidge, Shiro, and Keith clearly did though. The three of them were on the edge of their seats while listening to whatever Matt was saying.

Lance began to play with Keith’s hair. His mom had taught him how to French braid so he could braid his sister's hair when she was busy. He stopped listening to Matt and focused on braiding Keith’s hair.

“Keithy poo, you don’t let normal people braid your hair, who are you”

Lance only heard some of the sentence, good thing it was the important part.

“Lance”

“Oh Lance, well it’s nice to meet, I’m Matt”

Pidge snickered.

“It’s his boyfriend”

Matt’s mouth dropped. Lance could feel his face light up.

“We’ve been on one date”

“Holy shit, you weren’t joking, Keith, I am so proud of you, they grow up so fast, I remember the day you were born”

Keith's face was as red as a cherry, he looked away from the camera.

“No you don’t, you were like two, and we met in college, dumbass”

“I can’t believe it Kenny, you with a boyfriend, that’s amazing, he’s so antisocial Shiro and I would have to drag him to party’s, but instead of being normal and socializing with people, he’s one of those weirdos that sits in the kitchen and drinks by himself, you have gift Lance”

Lance didn’t really know what to say, he just shrugged and offered a smile at the camera.

“Oh my god, are you awkward too, that is too cute, I can not fucking believe this, and he’s not ugly, good job Keith”

“Uhm, thanks, I guess”

Keith groaned.

“Shut the fuck up Matt, leave me alone, and leave Lance alone”

Matt giggled.

“Fine, anyway, back to space talk I guess”

Lance still didn’t understand anything Matt was saying. Maybe it was because he was flustered, probably not though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be more serious. I’ll also put a warning in the next chapter so. I just wanted to give a heads up before I wrote any of it I guess. Thank you for reading!!  
> (There’s seven fucking chapters left... I’m not mentally ready for that, sorry, this is a little weird to add, but it just blows my mind).


	25. Coming Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter deals with talk about child abuse. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it’s a little heavy at the end.

By the time that they were saying goodbyes Lance was hitting the back of his head against the table in boredom. Charlotte was asleep on the floor, the rest of the kids were almost there. 

“I’ll call again, not sure when but I will, promise, bye”

Something softer met his head when he went to hit the table the next time. Keith looked down at him.

“Quit it, you’re gonna get a headache”

“I’m bored out of my mind Keith”

Keith brought Lance's head up.

“Are we done here, thank god, I was so tired of hearing Micheal talk about space”

River stood up and stretched her arms, she turned to Shiro.

“What are we doing, and it better not be boring, I’ve been bored enough today”

Shiro shrugged.

“I don’t know, nap time sounds nice”

“I’m being serious, I am not about to take a nap like a seventy year old, fucking come up with something”

Shiro just looked at her.

“Why don’t you come up with something, if you want to do anything we’ll do it, promise”

“Anything”

Shiro nodded his head, he looked bored.

“I would say polo, but we don’t have horses, I do have an idea though”

The tables were pushed to the outskirts of the room. River had partnered with Reznor, Pidge with Ruth, Frances and Desma, Charlotte and Amber, and Anthony with Ike. Allura had teamed up with Hunk, Keith with Lance.

“You’re hand should be on his shoulder blade Keith, not his waist, so you can lead the way you want to go, Jesus, okay”

They were holding hands, one of Lance’s hands was on Keith’s bicep.

“Ready”

Keith mumbled a no, under his breath, River began counting.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, triple step, triple step, and rock step, this is the jitterbug”

“Ballroom dancing is fucking stupid”

Lance laughed.

“It’s not terrible, I kind of like it”

They had turned so that Keith could see where River and Reznor were dancing. He laughed at Reznor's expression.

“He’s been blushing the whole time, he’s focused really hard too”

“You’re good Reznor, I’m kind of surprised”

He looked down at River, the blush had spread down to his neck. He looked lost for words.

“T-thank you”

River giggled as they moved around the room with a type of elegance that Lance didn’t think Reznor possessed. They flowed like water in a stream, moving swiftly and smoothly.

Ike was a little short compared to Anthony, They just swayed back and forth, Anthony looked bored out of his mind. Charlotte kept mumbling sorrys to Amber, she continued to accidentally step on Amber's toes. River and Rez made their way towards them.

“Focus on stepping between her feet, then you won’t step on her toes, I used to step on people’s feet all the time, you’ll learn not to”

“Didn’t know you could be so nice River”

Rez smiled at her.

“I can when I want to be, Charlie, it just depends on the day”

“I think you’ve used that one before”

As they waltzed away from her, River answered.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about”

Reznor laughed. Lance hadn’t seen him smile that often, it was kind of weird seeing him so happy. Good for Rez.

“My fucking feet feel like they’re gonna fall off”

“You’re being dramatic”

Keith looked down at him with a glare. He was a little huffy.

“I can teach another type if you’d like”

Keith and Anthony were very quick to say no. River laughed.

“I didn’t think it was that bad”

“You’re good at it Rez, did you not see that, you actually knew how to do everything, no wonder you didn’t think it was that bad”

Amber hit Anthony in his shoulder.

“You’re just mad because you sucked at it, now shut up”

Amber turned to River and smiled.

“I enjoyed it, I thought it was interesting, and I learned something new, thank you River”

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it, ballroom dancing is a passion of mine, I like to share my knowledge of weird things to people who would never think to get into them, ballroom dancing is one of those things”

Keith sat down at one of the tables. He rubbed his right knee, and looked up at River.

“Are we done”

“Keep pretending that you hated it Keith, yes, I am done, it was only two hours long, that’s not bad, and we have the rest of the day to do nothing, because Shiro has nothing planned, we can swim I guess”

Anthony sighed dramatically.

“Thank god, something interesting”

Anthony ran out of the mess as headed towards blue cabin.

“I guess we’re swimming”

———————————————

Lance canon balled into the water. It when over his head, he swam upward and resurfaced, his hair, that had gotten longer over the summer, hung over his eyes.

Anthony was close to him, he was dunking Amber under the water. Ike had on floatees and was swimming by Shiro and Allura. River was laying on the bank of the lake, Reznor was in the water next to her.

“The water is so fucking cold, ugh”

Keith’s teeth rattled, he had pulled his hair back out of his eyes, his hands were rubbing against his arms.

“It is not that cold Keith”

Lance splashed Keith with water, he yelled and almost fell completely into the water. Lance laughed.

“You ass, it’s freezing, I don’t know why you’re not cold”

“It’s really not that cold Keith”

Anthony had swam next to them, he was swimming circles around them.

“You’re probaly just a lizard person”

“I am not a fucking lizard person, why would you even say that Anthony”

“You remind me of a lizard Keith, duh, why else”

Lance laughed at it.

“A fucking lizard person, the hell, you weirdo”

Months ago Keith would have reacted differently, he probably would have lashed out and would have been defensive, but now he laughed it off and lightly shoved Anthony on the shoulder.

“We are not swimming all night, once the sunsets we’re going in”

Shiro was standing awkwardly by Ike, who was doggy paddling in the water. 

“That gives us like thirty minutes”

Keith dunked Lance under the water. Lance grabbed his ankles and pulled him under with him. Keith smiled at him. 

“Thought you said the water was cold Keith”

He laughed, eyes scrunched at the corners.

“It is, feel like I’m gonna freeze to death, might get hypothermia”

“You are not gonna get hypothermia, you’re so fucking dramatic”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“You don’t know that, I could die of hypothermia right now, you wouldn’t even see it coming”

“You can tell the signs of hypothermia dumbass, you don’t show any”

Lance splashed Keith with water.

“Quit complaining, hypothermia, my mom would have scolded me for saying something so stupid”

————————————————

Shiro sent them in when he said he would. Lance wasn’t sure what it was about today, maybe the swimming, but the kids were out like a light in no time. Pretty much the second Ambers head hit her pillow she started snoring. 

“Fuck, I’m kind of tired”

Keith said it while he was stepping over a branch. Their hands were connected and swayed as they walked. 

“Me too, swimming always makes me tired”

“I enjoy it, but it has its cons”

Lance hummed in response, their feet had fallen into step.

“I didn’t know how to swim till I was like fifteen, I had never been to a body of water till then, I almost drowned, a lifeguard had to save me, it was kind of embarrassing”

“Good thing you didn’t”

It was July fifteenth, they didn’t have a lot of summer left. Lance hadn’t even realized till that moment, he’d get to go home soon, have to go home soon.

“Yeah, I never would have met you if I had drowned”

He looked back from where he was standing in the door frame and smiled. Lance wakes in after him. He sat in his usual spot.

“Kind of quiet when we were walking up here, you okay”

“Summer’s almost over”

Keith propped his feet up on the desk. He looked at Lance, his head was cocked.

“Yeah, that’s why you’re so quiet”

“You’ll be three days away, I can’t make that trip in a weekend and be back by the time school starts back up, we’ll see each other like three times a year”

Keith thought about it for a second and laughed.

“That’s a stupid thing to worry about Lance, one, we have these things called smart phones so we can face time and see each other whatever day we want to, two, we’ll have the summer together, we’re together now”

Keith stood up and laid by Lance on the futon. 

“I’m not gonna forget about you, pretty hard to do when you’re on my mind twenty four seven”

Keith put his hand in Lances and squeezed. His eyes were soft.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I love you Lance, okay, I love you, I’m not going anywhere, you’re gonna wish you could get rid of me”

Lance laughed, he placed his head under Keith’s chin, Keith wrapped his arms around him.

“Don’t want to go home, not really”

Keith pressed a kiss to the crown of his hair before he spoke.

“Why not, you really missed your mom when you called, and your siblings”

Lance didn’t say anything for a minute, he did miss his mom, and his siblings, and his nieces and nephews, of course he’s missed them, he hasn’t seen them for months. 

“I don’t know how my dad is gonna react to me coming home”

There was no use to him lying, Keith probably knew anyway. He could feel Keith freeze up. He released a slow breath, it took him a while to say anything.

“I’m sorry, I- I don’t really know what to say honestly”

“He’s a piece of shit, I don’t think he even know my name honestly, I can’t remember a time he’s ever called me Lance”

It sunk in. He would have to see his dad again. His dad that was probably still upset that he left, and was an alcoholic, and didn’t like anything Lance ever did. Mateo McClain would hate Keith, and hate him even more. He felt numb.

“You could always stay here, they could probably transfer your college credit, and you could stay in our apartment”

“My mom would still be there, I couldn’t leave her there by herself”

Keith sighed.

“He already, it’s bad enough for her now, if I leave it’ll get worse, it’s probably really bad now, since I’m not home, I couldn’t leave permanently”

Keith just kept listening.

“I- I don’t want him to feel like he has anymore power over us than he already does, leaving home would just give him more power”

“You leaving won’t give him power Lance, it just shows that he can’t control you anymore”

Keith looked like he was on the verge of tears, he looked like he didn’t know what to say.

“My mom Keith, she’d still be there, what am I supposed to do with her, she thinks he loves her, he doesn’t, she won’t leave him, and I can’t leave her there”

Keith’s mouth opened up and closed right after. 

“If you’re not safe I don’t want you there, and if your moms not safe then I don’t want her there either, you don’t have anyone to move in with or something”

Lance felt sick.

“Not really, my grandparents aren’t that great either, they find out I’m gay and I’m fucking dead, don’t know where my sister is, that’s about it”

“You can’t go back there, you can’t, I don’t want him to hit you, no one would want that”

Lance felt panic set in.

“Sorry, I don’t know why I told you that, now you’ll just worry about me, shit, I’m sorry”

“No, quit it, don’t be sorry, I, just be safe I guess, tell an adult”

Lance paused for a moment.

“We are adults Keith, I should be able to figure this shit out on my own, leaving is the only way to fix it, or him dying, I hope he kicks the bucket soon”

Keith didn’t say anything, he ran his hand through Lance’s hair. 

“Sorry you had to find out about it”

“I’d rather it be now instead of when you’re hiding away from him or something, like when you’re actually in danger, I wish you weren’t at all, nobody deserves that”

Lance started crying. Keith just rubbed his back, he shushed him and rocked him back and forth. He whispered that he was sorry. What else was he supposed to say?

“Sorry, I’m sorry”

“Don’t be sorry okay, it’s not your fault, thank you for telling me, I’m, we’ll, we’ll figure something out, alright, I’m not just gonna sit around and; we’ll come up with something”

He told Keith about him, he’d never told anyone before.

“If he finds out someone knows Keith he’s gonna-“

“He’s not gonna do anything because I’m not gonna let him, alright, nothing will happen to you or your mom, okay, I’ll go all the way to Cuba to take you guys somewhere safe, and your siblings, and your niece and nephews, okay, I promise, I’m not gonna just do nothing”

Keith reached over to the desk and ripped out a piece of pepper from his sketchbook, he grabbed a pen and began writing.

“It’s my phone number, call me whenever okay”

Lance took the paper from his hand and looked at it. Keith brushed his thumb against Lance’s cheek.

“I know a lawyer, if your mom needs one”

“She won’t get a divorce, I’ve tried to convince her, she won’t, we don’t have the money”

Keith reached his hand under the futon, something clinked together, he pulled out two bottles of beer.

“I know it doesn’t fix your problem, obviously it won’t, and you shouldn’t turn to alcohol went you have problems, but it might take your mind off of it”

Lance took the bottle and opened it on the side of the desk.

“I just wish she’d leave him, I don’t know why she won’t, don’t know why she thinks he’s so great”

Lance took a sip. It tasted like shit, beer always tasted bad.

“Probably hopes it’ll get better, thinks he’ll change, she might not realize how much he’s hurting you, you should talk to her about it”

“I’ve tried, it upsets her, I don’t like upsetting my mom”

Keith paused.

“He’s hurting you Lance, you need to try to get her to listen, or someone you can live with to listen, so you’re safe”

“I could try to contact my sister, he left because dad’s an asshole, I have no clue where she is though”

Keith smiled awkwardly.

“That’s a start, you all could live somewhere close to her, maybe you move out first and take everyone with you later, one at time”

Lance nodded at it. It was probably impossible to do, especially without his dad finding out, he could try though.

“Just want everyone to be safe, I’ll try that, it’ll be hard to while I’m still in college, but it’s worth a shot”

He thought about his mom and her garden. Instead of her checking every minute to see if his father had returned from work yet, she just kept picking her tomatoes. He thought of his nieces and nephews not having to huddle up in one room while his parents yelled at each other in another room, he thought about his mom dancing in the kitchen to Paloma Blanca while cooking whatever she wanted, he thought about not having to tiptoe around his own house if he wanted to leave his room. It felt too good to be true.

Lance smiled at it all.

“I’ve never, told anyone before, him not being there, and me not having to think about every little thing I do just seems so, not real, I guess, like it could never be that way”

“I think you can convince your mom, I hope you can, I hate that he treats you the way he does, I’m sorry”

They were quiet, Lance listened to the sound of Keith breathing.

“Does he hurt any-“

“I don’t wanna talk about it anymore”

Keith didn’t say anything after that. They laid there Keith started to play with his hair again. 

Lance fell asleep. His face was pressed to Keith’s chest. An empty beer bottle rattled as it hit the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I watched a shit ton of videos on ballroom dancing and I’m pronouncing myself a professional ballroom dancer now. Anyway, we’re in the final stretch of the story. I’ll be starting the ending plot thing next chapter, and it will continue for the rest of the story!!  
> (I’ve also completely forgotten about Kosmo... he’s there, I’ll mention him again, I promise).  
> I also made a playlist for this story because I got bored? Idk I just wanted to. It’s called The Campfire is Where We Get Our Warmth on Spotify by Elexis Clark. It has songs that I think fit the story well and songs that I’ve used for chapter titles. It’s mostly pop punk I guess, like The Front Bottoms, Modern Baseball, Yellowcard, Blink-182, The Flat Stanley’s, and more bands like those. You can check it out if you want! I just thought about it and did it, so yeah! If you have song suggestions for it I’ll take them, I love listening to new music. There’s that I guess. 
> 
> Sorry for the randomness of that. I hope you enjoyed!! Thank you for reading!!


	26. I Don’t Play Poker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!! One of my favorite holidays, I didn’t do anything though, I’ve been watching scary movies, right now I’m watching It, the 2017 version. I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Lance didn’t really know what was happening. After a while he realized he could hear someone mumbling.

“Stupid fucking idiot, if I knew you were such a light weight I wouldn’t have let you drink any, one fucking beer, oh my god”

If Lance was in the right state of mind he would have heard the concern that was laced in Keith’s words, but the drowsy feeling from the beer made it hard to even understand what Keith was saying.

“Fucking hell, you have to be quiet and go straight to bed okay, no talking, even if you’re asked a question, no talking, okay”

Keith pressed his finger to his lip. Lance nodded and mocked Keith.

“Yeah, be quiet”

Keith set down Lance as soft as he could, Lance swayed back and forth a bit. Keith pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, go into your cabin and climb into bed, not a single word, alright”

Lance nodded and blinked at Keith. Keith laughed and shook his head. A kiss was pressed to his forehead.

“Good night okay, you’re gonna regret this in the morning, sorry about that”

Keith looked Lance up and down, he sighed.

“Sleep good okay, I love you, remember quiet”

Lance brought his finger to his mouth and made a shushing sound.

“Yeah, quiet, ssh, ugh Lance”

Keith faced Lance towards his cabin.

“Straight in there, no talking, get under the covers and sleep, we’ll deal with the consequences tomorrow”

Lance started humming a song, Keith shook his head.

“No, no humming, no talking, just sleep, now walk in and go to bed”

Keith shoved Lance towards his cabin lightly. Lance stumbled forward and walked up the steps, he tripped more than a few times. When he got to the cabin door he turned around and blew Keith a kiss. Keith put his face in his hands.

When Lance walked into the cabin, the lights flicked on, like they had many other nights, Lance winced at the sudden change.

“Well hello lover boy, what did you and Keith talk about”

He shushed Amber like he had hushed Keith. The three of them looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.

“Lance, are you good”

He climbed into bed and buried his face in his pillow.

“Did you and Keith fight, is everything okay, you’re worrying me”

“He’s drunk Amber”

Amber looks up at Lance’s bunk, her mouth agape.

“You’re lying, there is no fucking way that he’s drunk”

“I swear he is, I’ve seen drunk people before, and they kind of act like how Lance is right now, I’m not kidding”

Charlotte poked Lance’s side. He hummed.

“Everything okay”

She spoke cautiously, her voice was soft and quiet. Her eyes didn’t leave him, her breathing sped up. Lance just hummed again.

“I’m gonna ask you about it tomorrow too, so you can actually talk to me about it, alcohol will never solve your problems okay, speaking with people who can help you out will, I can’t believe Keith let you get drunk”

Anthony shifted in his spot on the bed, a sigh fell from his lips. 

“Maybe Keith didn’t realize till it was too late, I feel like he wouldn’t just let Lance get drunk, I just think he cares too much about him for that to happen”

“I don’t know”

Charlotte laid back down in her bed, she turned to look at Anthony.

“We’ll figure everything out in the morning I guess, maybe”

“Emphasis on maybe”

——————————————

When Lance woke up his head was pounding, his whole body hurt, he was also sweating a lot. The lights switched on, Lance immediately covered his eyes.

“Good morning, how are you feeling”

“Why are you talking so loud, quiet, please”

Charlotte laughed.

“I’m talking at a normal level, maybe if you drank responsibility last night, you would feel like shit right now, you need to drink water by the way, you’re probably dehydrated”

“Why do you know this”

Lance sat up and groaned, he headed to the bathroom to pee. 

“I’ve seen hungover people before, what happened last night, everything okay with you and Keith”

“Yeah, Keith and I didn’t fight or anything, something else, I’m never drinking ever again, ugh”

Amber chuckled.

“You shouldn’t drink to solve your problems, they’re still here now that you’re sober, and now they’re here and you’re hungover, you didn’t accomplish anything other than feeling like shit”

“Thanks Anthony”

Lance pulled his toothbrush out of his mouth and poked his head out of the bathroom to look at Anthony.

“I know that now, should have told me sooner”

“I’m beating the shit out of Keith the second I see him”

Lance spit his toothpaste in the sink, he pulled on the shorts he got from his laundry and walked out of the bathroom.

“Don’t blame Keith, he didn’t do this me, I did this to me, not his fault, shit”

“If it’s not Keith, than why’d you drink yourself half to death last night”

Lance sighed, two fingers massaged his temples.

“I’d rather not talk about it, especially not right now, might tell you later”

Lance was definitely not telling them later. 

“Okay then, that’s fine I guess, time for breakfast, I swear to god if it’s waffles or pancakes, I am going to lose my shit, I officially hate pancakes and waffles”

They walked to the mess hall, Red Cabin was already there.

“It is so fucking early, I’m tired”

River yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked over at them and waved.

“Good morning, how’s you all sleep last night”

Anthony looked at Amber before he answered.

“Well, how’d you sleep”

“Pretty good, I’ve slept better but, you know the beds aren’t that comfy so”

Lance sat down across from River, he placed his head in his hands. He could see Reznor's feet bounce restly under the table, he hadn’t said a word this morning. Kosmo sat between his legs and licked his face, Lance patted his head.

He could feel some wrap their arms around his torso, the feeling of lips ghosted his ear.

“Why good morning Lance”

Keith pretty much shouted it in his ear. Lance groaned and shoved him off. Keith busted out laughing.

“I said you were gonna regret it, but you didn’t listen to me”

He placed something on the table and sat next to him.

“Here, pickle juice, water, and Benadryl, it should help at least a little bit”

Keith moved Lance's hair out of his eyes and smiled at him.

“You’re not allowed to drink ever again, if I would have known you were a lightweight I would have even though if giving you that, I am so fucking sorry”

A kiss was placed on his forehead. Lance sighed and looked at Keith.

“It’s fine, I didn’t know either, now I know to never drink ever again”

Keith chuckled and ran his fingers through Lance’s hair.

“Is he okay”

Lance had put the Benadryl in his mouth and took a swig of pickle juice, he cringed at the taste.

“Don’t know”

Keith glanced at Reznor.

“He’s been really quiet lately, more than usual, like before, but I don’t know if anything is wrong, he’s kind of hard to talk to, both Ike and River have said something about it”

“He won’t talk to me about it”

River was also looking at Rez.

“Like at all, won’t even hint that something is wrong, he’s been kind of avoiding me too, but not really, like he was with me last night but he just, was out of it, I guess, like not paying attention, I don’t know how to explain it”

“Maybe he just needs space, or time to think, I don’t know, if we don’t have a lead to what’s wrong, then we can’t really help him”

River scoffed.

“Well I’m tired of him being fucking weird, I want regular Rez back”

Keith shrugged, he looked at Rez then at River.

“If you already didn’t know, I’m bad at solving problems, so I don’t know what you want me to do, I say we just give him some time, maybe he’ll say something about it”

“You and I both know that is a horrible fucking plan, he is not going to say shit on his own, he’s fucking awkward and doesn’t know how to talk to people, he isn’t going to come up to us and tell us what’s wrong, we’re gonna have to pry it from his mouth, okay”

They all watched as Reznor chewed on the skin around his nails, his eye bags were more pronounced than they usually were, he was staring at nothing.

“You don’t that River, maybe he will, if he hasn’t said anything by today, we’ll try something tomorrow, okay, just give him a day”

Shiro walked in carrying something that looked like a briefcase.

“Look what I found Keith”

“Cornhole, I’m gonna whoop your ass Shirogane, you have no chance”

—————————————————

Lance had never heard of cornhole before, he just knew he was getting his ass handed to him by a fourteen year old.

“You have to make it in the circle to cancel out her points”

“I am losing by a lot Keith, I don’t think one hole is gonna help me out very much”

Shiro made another one into the hole. Keith grabbed a beanbag and made it on the board..

“Sure it will, chip away at it”

Lance made it on the box, he wasn’t sure how the point system worked for this game.

“See, that’s something, at least you don’t have zero”

“You have to looked at the angle that you’re throwing it at, if you get that right then you’ll be able to throw it in the hole every time, it’s really not that hard if you think about it”

Lance blinked at Desma, who was smiling at him, her braids bounced as she talked, her very blue eyes could hardly be seen by her squinting face.

“Maybe for you, I don’t understand math, I’ve almost failed every math class I’ve ever been in”

“You think about math when you throw the bag, really, I just chuck it and hope it goes in”

Lance rolled his eyes. His bean bag didn’t even hit the board.

“You’ve been playing like shit Keith”

Shiro said it before taking a drink of what Lance was almost one hundred percent sure was vodka.

“Yeah, I guess”

Shiro paused for a minute. He laughed.

“Okay, why are you playing like shit, and don’t say it’s because you’re sober, because that is bullshit and you know it”

Keith was quiet for a minute. He looked over towards the lake, where Reznor was sitting, River and Ike were sitting by him, River’s feet were in the water, Ike was skipping rocks. It didn’t look like they were talking much.

“Rez is acting, off, I guess, he’s more quiet than usual, and won’t talk to anyone”

“He has been quiet”

Pidge also was looking towards the lake. She pushed up her glasses up and cocked her head. 

“I don’t know, just worried about him”

“You never would have admitted that three months ago”

Keith laughed, it sounded forced.

“Yeah”

“I’m sure he’s okay, just talk to him, and ask”

Keith rolled his eyes at Shiro.

“You know that teenagers are hard to talk to, you’ve know me for a while Shiro, teenagers don’t tell you shit”

“You haven’t even tried to talk to him”

Keith missed the next two bean bags.

By

“I don’t know how to talk to people, you know that”

“Well learn, go ask him if he’s okay”

Keith missed a bag again, he cussed under his breath.

“It’s a lot harder than that Shiro, he’s not gonna give me a straight answer, he’s gonna give me some puzzle to figure out, have you never talked to a teenager before”

Shiro made his bag and Keith missed another.

“Yes, I’ve talked to teenagers before Keith, I don’t live under a rock”

“You sure”

Keith missed another and lost the game.

“Because it’s a lot harder when that teen already doesn’t talk that much, then he won’t talk at all”

“I just hope he’s okay”

River picked up Reznor’s hand, she looked over at him and smiled, he didn’t look up at her. Her smile faded. Ike just continued to throw stones, you could see the ripples where the rock hit the water, they eventually stopped, a second later you could see them again. Rez put his elbows on his knees and watched Ike throw them. 

It was quiet there, it was the first time this summer Lance realized how quiet it truly was in Alabama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, five more chapters... holy crap, I can’t believe that. Idk if anyone saw because I added it after I published the chapter, but I made a Spotify playlist with the same name as the story. I just did, I don’t know why. I hope you liked this chapter!!


	27. With His Lips Sewn Shut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kind of sucks... that’s fine uhm yeah. It’s also really short, but it needs to be in here so yeah!! I hope you enjoy!!

“I’m fucking worried about him Lance, I know you say he acts weird, and you’re not wrong, but he just is being different than usual”

They walked to the cabin Kosmo trotted behind them. He hit Lance’s legs with his head every once in a while, reminding Lance that he was there.

“He’s probably homesick Keith, I get that, I know you’re worried but you can’t do anything if you don’t know anything”

“River is fucking worried about him, she’s said she enjoys us being around her once, I think they like each other though, honestly don’t know what’s going on there, but he’s just can’t sit still and is super fucking quiet”

Lance leaned against the cabin wall as Keith unlocked it. He pushed himself off the cabin and walked in while Keith held the door open. Both of them plopped on the futon, Lance laying down, Keith sitting.

“I don’t know Keith, I know you’re worried about him, that’s sweet of you, but if he doesn’t say anything you can’t help him, you have to get him to talk to you, then you can help him, gotta get it out of him somehow”

Keith put his head in Lance’s neck, he groaned dramatically.

“That’s hard to do, I already said that, he doesn’t talk much anyway and now he’s not talking at all, like I said, River is even worried”

“I used to be a stubborn ass kid, shocker”

He ran his fingers through Keith’s hair.

“My mom would sit me down and have me talk out my feelings everyday because I wouldn’t say anything if she didn’t, I knew knew what to say, but she would eventually get something out of me, maybe something like that will work”

“The difference between you and Rez is that you never shut up, Rez never talks”

“Well do you have a plan Keith”

Keith moved so he could look at Lance.

“No, that’s why I brought it up with you, you have siblings so I thought you might know how to talk to kids”

“My siblings are pretty open about everything, we tell each other every little thing that happens in our lives, I’ve never really had to force anyone to tell me something, so I don’t really know”

Keith sighed.

“But, we can sit with him and talk about it, or try to, if he doesn’t talk about it, he doesn’t talk about it”

“I just wish he would just tell me what’s wrong, I hate worrying”

Lance placed his hands on Keith’s shoulder blades. He ran his hands up and down Keith’s back. 

“Maybe he’s home sick, we’ve been gone for quite a while, he probably misses his mom”

“Well I can’t fix that, fucking hell, how do you feel by the way, still feel like shit”

Lance laughed.

“Yes, but I feel a lot better, my head doesn’t hurt as much”

“That’s good”

Keith held his face in his hands.

“I’m glad you don’t feel like death anymore”

Lance’s heart was beating in his chest, he didn’t think his heart would ever act the same around Keith again. Lance was fine with that.

“Me too”

“I usually chug a whole jar of pickle juice when I’m hungover, always does the trick, now you know just in case you’re hungover in the future”

Keith smiled at him. 

“I’m never drinking again, seriously”

“You’ll save money that way”

They were quiet for a second.

“You’re trying to forgot about the Reznor thing aren’t you, it’s not gonna go away Keith and he’s probably not gonna-“

“I know, I know, okay, I just want to quit thinking about it for a minute, I’m gonna get fucking grey hairs from it, I don’t want that yet”

They were quiet again.

“I think you’ll look good with grey hair”

“Shut up Lance”

He said it with a smile on his face.

“Seriously, we’ll figure it out Keith, we’ll talk to him tomorrow and everything will be okay, I promise”

“I hope you’re right”

—————————————————

“What the fuck are we doing”

They were outside, the summer sun beat down on them. Lance watched as a bead of sweat rolled down Keith’s cheek, eventually falling off his face.

“We’re gonna talk to Rez, like I said Keith, I swear you don’t listen to me sometimes”

“Honestly, I don’t”

Lance hummed.

“Noted, now to just find Reznor and bring him to the mess hall”

They found him sitting in a tree that was close to the lake. River had been trying to ask him what’s wrong, Lance guessed he got tired of her asking so he went somewhere she couldn’t reach him. River hasn’t been the same either. She hasn’t insulted anyone for a while.

“Hey bud”

Rez looked down at them from his spot in the tree. His knees were pulled to his chest, his head laid on them. He didn’t answer Lance.

“Can you come down for a minute, please”

Rez just looked at him for a minute, before he swung down from the tree and stood in front of them. He still didn’t say a word. Lance placed his hand on Rez’s back, Keith followed them to the mess hall with his hands in his pockets.

“What the fuck are they doing”

Anthony shrugged, his eyes followed them till they went through the mess hall doors. He turned to River, the ball from their game of four square was in his hands.

“No clue, we’ll find out later, Rez will probably say something about it to you”

River laughed, it almost sounded sad.

“Sure he will”

————————————————

Lance slammed his hands on the table, it creaked in protest. Reznor glanced at Keith, who stood beside Lance.

“Alright Rez, do you know why you’re here”

“No”

It was the first words that had come out of Reznor's mouth for what felt like weeks, Keith released a breath.

Lance had flicked the lights off, a lamp that he had found in the closet (stupid fucking closet) was their only source of light. It flickered every once in a while leaving them in darkness for less than a second.

“Keith told me you’ve been a little different lately, so I’m gonna make you talk about it”

“Is this what you do to your siblings”

Lance shushed Keith. Reznor just stared at him. It was silent for a few beats.

“Uh, so, we aren’t leaving this building till you say something, so we can wait”

Lance propped his feet on the table. He stared at Reznor with a glare.

“Something”

Rez went to stand up, Keith rolled his eyes.

“Sit the fuck back down, I’m worried about you, you’ve been acting different lately, and I just want to make sure you’re okay”

“I’m fine”

Keith scoffed.

“I was a moody teenager too Rez, I’m not stupid, you can talk about it, Lance and I won’t tell anyone else”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

Lance looked between the two of them. Keith had leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. 

“I’ve also pulled that card, we’re extremely similar Rez, I’ve noticed that you’ve changed and I’m really worried, you might not believe that, but I am”

Rez was quiet.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you and I can’t fix anything if I don’t know what’s going on with you”

“Nothing is wrong with me, I’m sorry I act fucking weird, I also act like this”

Keith stared at him for a moment.

“You haven’t snapped at anyone this whole summer Rez, you don’t act like this, I know you better than you think I do”

“Are you sure about that”

Keith tried not to smile.

“We are not gonna make this about me just so you can avoid my question, I’m gonna ask again, what’s wrong”

“And I already told you nothing is wrong, why won’t you listen to that”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Because you haven’t convinced me that that’s true Rez, the complete opposite has happened actually, if you won’t tell me then please at least tell River”

Reznor's breath caught.

“Why would I tell River”

“She’s worried about you too, Ike also is, they care about you Rez, I care about you, if you don’t tell me, at least tell them”

Reznor's breathing had spread up, he wouldn’t look at Keith.

“I don’t have anything to tell them, just like how I don’t have anything to-“

The lights flicked on, Lance groaned at the sudden brightness, he could hear Reznor sigh.

“What the hell are you guys doing”

“We were talking Hunk”

Hunks eyes shifted between the three of them.

“With the lights off, you can talk perfectly fine with them on, I came in to make lunch, pizza, I hope that’s okay”

Reznor slipped out the door past Hunk. Lance watched as he did it, he could hear Keith’s head think against the table.

“Is Rez alright”

“We don’t know Hunk, that’s what we were trying to figure out”

Hunk pursed his lips together. Lance shrugged.

“We didn’t figure anything out”

Hunk adjusted the headband on his head and sighed.

“Well I hope you do, It sucks that Rez is acting weird”

“Yeah, Hunk”

There was some venom behind Keith's voice.

“It really does”

Hunk looked at Keith for a moment and started walking to the kitchen.

“Well, I’m gonna start making lunch now, don’t mind me”

When they walked back outside Reznor was back in his tree. River was under it, her arms crossed and frown on her face. Ike was trying to pull her frown up into a smile. She smacked his hand away.

“We probably just made the situation worse Lance”

“Well, at least we tried something”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Next chapter is gonna be a fun one to write, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve had this part planned out forever, when I didn’t think I was gonna write a second chapter I would think about this part in the story, so I’m excited!!


	28. The Missing Posters Hung Around Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter. I really like this chapter. I planned on them to do more but I didn’t want the chapter to be super long. I hope you enjoy it!!

It didn’t make the situation any better. Reznor definitely got worse. His foot never stopped tapping, he looked like a raccoon with how big his eye bags were, he also never took his eyes off of Keith and Lance. 

“We made him fucking paranoid Lance, look at him”

Lance tried to make him looking behind him seem casual, Reznor was looking right at him, he hadn’t touched his food.

“I was hoping it would help him Keith, I’m sorry”

“He’s not sleeping either, he literally just tosses and turns all night, and the beds are squeaky as shit so I can’t fucking fall asleep”

Lance shrugged.

“So that’s why you’re so cranky, I don’t know what else to do Keith, that was my only plan, we can only hope he’ll be okay I guess”

Keith laid his forehead on the table.

“So you two idiots are the reason he’s like this”

Of course River was listening, when wasn’t she listening.

“I’m fucking tired of him not talking, he’s been weird and I hate it, I should have known from the beginning that you two were behind this, I swear to god I’ll-“

“We didn’t do anything to him, he was being weird before we talked to him, we tried to figure out what we could do to help him, but we didn’t figure anything out, now he’s being even more weird”

River glared at them.

“You could have included us in on that plan, now he’s even worse than before, if Ike and I were there you two wouldn’t have been able to say anything stupid because I would have stopped it, now look at him”

They looked over to where Reznor had put his head down on the table, his food shoved to the side.

“Look at what you’ve done, he was fine a few days ago, now he’s weird again, I like the Rez that I can talk to, not the one that ignores every word that I say”

She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“I know you’re worried about him River, I am too, okay, I didn’t intend to make it worse, I wanted to fucking help him, I can’t do that without knowing what’s wrong with him, that’s all we tried to figure out”

Lance tried to keep his voice calm, River just continued to glare at them.

“You didn’t help him is the thing, he’s literally worse, he won’t even sit by us”

“I’m sorry River”

Keith rolled his eyes, he looked like he hadn’t been sleeping either.

“I was hoping I could help okay, I had good intentions, it’s not like I wanted him to be this way”

“Well he is”

She moved to sit by Charlotte, who she made very clear she didn’t really like. Charlotte looked pretty startled when River sat down by her.

“God fucking damn it”

Keith rubbed his eyes and dramatically ran his hands down his face.

“Now Reznor is being weird and River is pissed off at me, today can’t get any better”

Keith stood up with his tray in his hand. He dumped his food in the trash and put the tray by the kitchen.

“I would have ate that”

Keith mumbled a sorry, and looked up at Reznor.

“He’s gonna be okay Keith, I know it doesn’t look great, Rez is being weird and River is pissed off at you, but at least Ike is okay”

“Yeah, the hardest member of Red cabin to make upset doesn’t hate me, hooray”

He rolled his eyes.

“I’m trying to look on the bright side of things”

“Well thanks”

Lance peaked over at River, she was staring at them still.

“She’s probably upset because she doesn’t know what’s going on either, so she’s blaming it on you just do it’s someone’s fault, that probably makes her feel better about everything”

“Makes me feel like shit”

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry”

Keith didn’t say anything else at lunch. Lance watched everyone else talk from a far. He watched Rez just sit there. He felt responsible for everything.

———————————————

“You need to sleep, you look fucking exhausted”

They stood by the lamppost. Keith’s hands were in his pockets, a gust of wind made the night even colder than it already was. Lance shivered.

“I’m fine Lance, c’mon”

Keith started to walk towards the cabin. Lance stayed right where he was. Before Lance had left blue cabin Anthony and Charlotte were talking about River, they seemed worried.

“She sat by me today Anthony, she doesn’t like me very much, I was kinda scared honestly”

“She wasn’t going to do anything Charlotte, she’s just pissed at Keith and Lance”

Lance looked over to Anthony’s bed.

“I’m right here you know”

Anthony paid no attention to him.

“She’s so mad at them she sat by me, that sounds like bullshit”

Charlotte laid back on her bed. 

“It’s stupid that’s she’s even mad at us, it’s literally not my fault”

Still none of them paid attention to Lance, they continued talking like he wasn’t even there.

“I think it makes sense, she might not like you, but she hates them right now more than you I guess”

Lance rolled his eyes and stood up, he put on his slipper and opened the door.

“I’m leaving”

They didn’t even look at him as he walked out the door and stood by the lamppost, he leaned against it and crossed his arm.

Now Keith and him stood about twenty feet apart. Keith’s purple eyes met his.

“I don’t want to fight Lance please, I’m already fighting with everyone else, and we’ve already fought enough this summer”

“You need to take care of yourself, sleeping is apart of that, when we’re not together will you take care of yourself, we’re together now and you’re not”

Keith’s shoulders sagged, he hung his head.

“I don’t want to think about you being miles away when you’re right in front of me, I’m thinking about a lot right now, and I’m really trying for that not to be one of them”

“I want to not think about it too, okay”

Lance brought Keith’s head up so he was looking at him.

“You need to take care of yourself, I can tell you’re bad at that, and I know you’re stressed out, but you can’t not take care of yourself because you’re worried about a lot of shit”

Keith looked at him with sad eyes.

“Quit that, we’re not going to the cabin okay, you’re gonna sleep and not worry about Rez, or River, or if the summer is almost over, okay, you gonna catch some z’s and when you wake up tomorrow we’re gonna fix all the shit with Rez and everything is gonna be okay”

Keith was pouting, his bottom lip stuck out, his purple eyes had tears in the corners. Lance pecked his lips.

“I said to quit, we’re not gonna leave camp with Rez and everyone else being mad at us, we’ll fix it, if it’s the last thing I do”

“Okay”

Lance smiled at him.

“Good, now go sleep, remember don’t let the bedbugs bite, literally”

Keith faked a chuckle. He made sure that Keith was back in his cabin before going to his. The second he walked in Amber shot out of bed.

“Why are you back so early”

Lance climbed into bed.

“Because I told Keith he needed to sleep, he hasn’t been sleeping very well, you can tell, so I told him to go to sleep, he surprisingly didn’t object so, I hope he’s headed to bed right now”

“Really”

“Yes really, now go to bed”

Lance covered himself with his blanket. He stared at the ceiling, the kids whispered about something he couldn’t hear. Eventually that quit and Amber began to snore. The crickets outside weren’t as loud, the light from the lamppost constantly flickered, if lance looked hard enough he could see the bugs flying around the lightbulb.

“Lance”

“Yeah”

Amber didn’t respond for a while after that.

“What are you gonna do after summer”

“Go home”

He thought about seeing his mom again, and a small smile made its way on his face, he thought about his dad and it faded.

“That’s not the answer I wanted”

“You should have expected me to say that, I’m gonna go back to school, like you and spend a lot of time with my brother probably, like I used to before coming here”

Amber didn’t say anything else.

“What about Keith”

Anthony sounded tired.

“What about him”

“Are you gonna see him after camp”

Lance smiled to himself.

“Yes, I’m not just gonna leave and forget about him, we’ve talked about it, we’ll be just fine, promise”

“Are you gonna forget about us”

Lance laughed.

“No Charlotte, we’ve spent the whole summer together, I’m not gonna forget about you guys, I’ll probably think about you all the time”

“I don’t want summer to end”

Charlotte sounded like she was trying to hold back tears. Lance was honestly thinking about crying too.

“I don’t either, I love it here”

“Me too”

All the kids said it at the same time. That was it. Lance didn’t fall asleep. He thought about how Keith was probably awake at the moment too. How Rez was probably also awake, but their cabin would be so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lance wished it wasn’t like that.

—————————————

“What do you mean he’s gone”

“I mean he’s not in his bed or anywhere else Shiro, I don’t know here the fuck he is”

Lance groggily sat up, he got out of bed and walked outside. Keith and Shiro stood by each other, both of them looked like they had just woken up. Other people had started going outside.

“He didn’t just disappear Keith”

“He’s not here, he’s fucking missing”

“We’ll find him, okay, it’s fine”

Lance rubbed his eyes and stood by Keith.

“What’s going on”

Keith looked over at Lance, his eyes were bloodshot and his hair was a mess, he honestly looked like shit.

“Rez is fucking missing”

Keith’s voice cracked. He just looked at Keith for a minute, he wasn’t kidding.

“Holy shit, okay, we’ll find him, it’s gonna be fine”

“We have to find him or we’re gonna get sued, how the fuck do you loose a while ass person”

Hunk walked out with a yawn falling out of his lips. Kosmo was circling Keith’s feet.

“He’s missing, fuck, have you looked everywhere”

“No Hunk, I just woke up”

“We’ll look for him okay, don’t worrying about it alright”

Keith walked down the hiking path, Lance looked through the closet, Pidge and green cabin looked through the woods. Shiro checked by the road, Allura looked around the cabins. No luck.

“Maybe he went into town, a change of scenery”

“You think he walked all the way to town Coran, that’s like forty minutes away”

Coran shrugged.

“We’ve looked everywhere else around camp, it never hurts to check”

Lance was asked the first time he had driven through town. They had packed him, Charlotte, Ruth, Pidge, Ike, Ruth, Frances, and Cosmo into one truck. Keith’s fingers tapped against the wheel as they followed everyone else into town.

“Welcome to Mooresville Alabama, the shittiest place in the world”

Charlotte said it as they passed the sign. The red truck in front of them pulled into a parking space at a diner. Keith put the truck in park.

“We’ll find him, he’s got to be somewhere close”

Keith didn’t respond, he got out and shut the door, everyone piled out of the car.

“On the drive here I made up groups to split up in to look for Reznor, Shiro will have Desma and Ruth, Coran will have Anthony and Frances, Hunk and Pidge will have River”

Pidge groaned.

“I’ll have Desma, and Keith and Lance will have Ike and Charlotte, we split up around town and look for Reznor, meet back here when we find him”

“What if we don’t find him”

Allura smiled at Hunk.

“We better fucking find him, or we’re probably gonna get sued”

“Split up and look everywhere and ask everyone, we have to find him”

Each group split into different directions.

“Okay”

Charlotte stood with her hands on her hips.

“Where would Rez go if he were to go in a shop”

“I don’t fucking know, I say we just start somewhere and ask if anyone has seen him”

They walked into an antique clothing store. The clothes on the hangers looked like they were from the eighteen hundreds. Big poofy dresses and tailcoats hung around the room. It smelled musty in there.

“Welcome to Angie's antiques, how can I help you all today”

A small, older woman walked out from behind the counter. Charlotte had begun to walk in the store, Lance grabbed her shirt sleeve.

“Yeah, we’re looking for a child, he’s tall, has black hair, eye bags, he doesn’t talk much, he has bad posture, when we woke up this morning e was missing and we’re trying to find him”

Ike was looking up at the jewelry case, he was smiling at a necklace, Lance also thought it looked pretty.

“I’m afraid I haven’t seen a boy around here”

She took a glance at Kosmo, his tail thudded against the floor.

“Don’t see many people to be honest, especially this early in the morning”

“All your antiques are very pretty ma’am”

Charlotte was looking into the same case as Ike.

“Why thank you, most of them are from around eighteen thirty, many of them are older, you can try something on if you’d like”

“No, if you break something Charlotte I don’t have the money to pay for it, thank you ma’am, we’re gonna continue to look for Rez, come on”

None of them followed Keith. The three of them stood right where they were and looked at him.

“Are you kidding, ugh, don’t break anything, I’m being serious”

Lance’s mouth broke out in a smile. He picked up a navy blue set. It was embroidered with the same gold flowers on all the sets of clothing.

“Keith”

“I am not giving putting that on, you’d have to kill me before I wore that”

“It’s not even that bad, I think you’ll look nice in it, I think you’ll look dapper”

Keith looked at him with a frown on his face.

“Please Kenneth, it’s not that bad, I’ll wear one too, and Charlotte”

Charlottes head whipped around.

“Huh”

Now they all stood in the middle of the small shop, wearing clothing that smelled musty and looked ugly. Both Charlotte and Keith were frowning, Ike skipped around in his clothes.

“Yours isn’t even that bad Keith, look at me, I look like Cinderella if her family was a bunch of peasants” 

“Was she not a peasant, she only got good clothes because of the fairy godmother”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. Ike was also wearing a tailcoat similar to Keith’s, it fit him really well. He had a little hat to match. Ike strutted out of the dressing room and turned around, he struck a pose at the end. Lance laughed at it, it put a small smile on Keith’s face.

“You look nice Ike”

He smiled at Keith, eyes wrinkling at the corners.

“Thank you, I feel like I should be walking down the street with a cane”

“All of the clothes together would be around five hundred dollars”

Keith’s eyes widened.

“Like I said, I don’t have that much money, take everything off, sadly Reznor isn’t here”

Lance almost for what they were doing there. He sighed. When he took everything off, he set it on the counter for the old lady to hang back up.

“Thank you”

“You’re welcome, I hope you find whoever you’re looking for”

Keith smiled at her.

“Me too ma’am, enjoy the rest of your day”

The bell on the door jingled as they walked out.

“Where to next”

“Another shop I guess, somewhere Rez would go”

Keith leaned on the door and almost fell.

“Where would he go, I don’t know, where would a moody teenager go”

Kosmo was running circles around Keith’s feet.

“I used to look at knives because I used to make them, that’s just me though”

“I’ve never heard Rez say anything about weapons though, we can look there, I think you want to just go look at the knives but”

Keith smiled at him.

“We don’t have to go there, it was just a suggestion”

Lance rolled his eyes.

“If you want to go look at the knives, we can look at the knives”

“Okay, maybe I do want to look at the knives, but I’m looking for Rez also”

They found a small pawn shop that had knives in the window.

“No touching anything, you can kill people on accident with stuff like this, hands in pockets, you too Lance”

Lance stuffed his hands in his pockets. A guy who was like seven foot tall and a smaller woman with blonde hair were at the desk, they smiled at them as they walked in.

“Can we help you with anything”

“Uh, yeah”

Keith picked up a knife and turned it around, he sat it down afterwards.

“Have you seen a teenage boy running around, he has black hair, looks really tired, doesn’t talk much”

“‘Fraid we haven’t, the only kids we’ve seen around here is your kids and a few others that walked in about thirty minutes ago”

“They aren’t mine, but thank you”

Keith sighed.

“I swear to god you hate us dad, at least pops loves us”

Charlotte hugged Lance, Lance laughed at Keith’s unimpressed expression.

“It would be kind of alarming if I had a fifteen year old kid at twenty one, shut the fuck up”

The two people behind the desk blinked at them and shrugged.

“I’m sorry your kid is missing, I hope you find him, maybe go to the sheriff, he might be able to help you out”

“That’ll be our last resort, thank you”

They walked out Keith groaned.

“I saw an ice cream shop not too far from here”

They sat outside with their ice cream. Keith looked like he was on the verge of tears eating his chocolate ice cream. Ike’s feet kicked Lance legs lightly.

“He’s not gone Keith, he’s got to be somewhere close, he didn’t run home”

“If Shiro calls his parents and tells them he’s missing, they’re probably gonna be mad, like how the fuck do you loose a kid”

Lance put his hand on Keith’s knee.

“We’re gonna find him, he’s not dead, he’s somewhere in Alabama”

“Yeah somewhere could be anywhere, he could be fucking miles away, I don’t know when he left so I can’t figure out how far he could of gone, he could be dead in a ditch for all I know”

“I just said he’s not dead”

Lance made Keith look at him.

“We’re gonna find him, even if he’s not in town, we aren’t gonna just quit looking for him Keith”

“I should have done something before it got this bad, but now he’s missing and we can’t find him”

Charlotte placed her finished cup on the table. Keith gave the rest of his ice cream to Kosmo. Lance ran his hands through Keith’s hair.

“You didn’t know he was gonna run away, if you did then you would have stopped it, maybe someone else has had luck, and were just looking for no reason”

“I feel like someone should have texted me if that was true, you could be right though”

Keith collected their cups and threw them away.

“We’ll keep looking, there’s two more shops on this street we’ll ask them”

They went to a Chinese restaurant, the lady inside said she didn’t see anyone, especially a teenage boy, she talked about how business was slow and asked if they wanted to buy any food. Charlotte took a fortune cook on the way out. They came out of the store empty handed.

Next was a shoe store. The guy working there looked high. He reminded Lance of Jude Lizowski from 6teen. He said he hadn’t seen Reznor either.

They met where they started. Reznor wasn’t with anyone.

“We asked everyone, they said the hadn’t seen him”

Shiro had his hands in his khaki shorts pockets.

“Fuck, where is he then”

“We’ll look at the cabin again, I’ll call the sheriff's department and see if they’ve seen him”

Keith kicked a bunch of rocks that were on the ground.

“It hasn’t been twenty four hours, we can look at the cabin again”

Keith sat in the driver's seat of the truck after everyone was inside. He hit his head on the wheel, it honked. He adjusted himself in the seat and put the car in reverse. They drove away from town, soon all they saw was trees.

“You okay”

Keith didn’t respond or look over at him, he just nodded and continued to drive. Keith turned the radio up, it was playing country music. Kosmo’s head was hanging out the window. Lance stared out the window, everything felt familiar and foreign at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s so crazy that I’m gonna finish this story soon. Holy shit, I’m gonna have nothing to do. I’m trying to come up with something to occupy my free time. I’ll have to write something else I guess. Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!


	29. Caught Red Handed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhm, I actually wrote this yesterday, but I thought it would be weird to post two chapters in one day, so yeah, here it is!! I hope you enjoy!!

Keith didn’t get out of the truck when they got back. Lance glanced at him as he sat in the dirt.

“Look everywhere, literally everywhere, not a single thing should look the same as it did before we started looking, turn every rock over, look in the lake, everywhere, we’re not stopping till we find him”

Lance watched as everyone started looking again, some people took the advice Shiro gave a little too serious. Lance climbed into the passenger's seat and shut the door to Keith’s truck.

“Doing okay”

“No, I’m not okay”

Lance looked out the window and watched everyone look, Hunk was even looking in the trash cans. Pidge wasn’t trying too hard to look.

“I’m sorry”

“Quit apologizing for things you can’t control, it’s not your fault he’s missing”

“It’s not yours either, despite what you might think”

Lance kicked his feet up and the dash. His eyes were glued to Keith. Keith didn’t move from his spot.

“Everyone is looking for him again, we’re gonna find even if it’s the last thing I do, Rez is gonna be back here in your sight, preferably today, if not today then tomorrow, we’re gonna find him, promise”

“We shouldn’t be looking in the first place, he should be here right now and I should be-“

Lance stopped him from continuing.

“Quit it, I mean it, come on, you’re gonna get out and help us, even if you think it’s stupid to look”

He got out and opened Keith’s door. Keith looked at him, Lance held his hands out. Keith took them and hopped out.

“We’ll start where you want to, we’ve already looked in the mess hall and in all the cabins, Frances even looked in the lake to make sure he didn’t drown”

“You checked the mess hall closet and the kitchen”

“Yep, and all the cabins, and the showers, and the laundry room, and the-“

Keith interrupted him.

“Do you think he found the cabin”

“The cabin”

Lance arched his eyebrows at Keith, his mouth was open slightly.

“Yeah, the cabin, it’s close and pretty easy to find, that’s where I went to escape everything, why wouldn’t he if he found it”

“Oh”

Keith’s eyes widened.

“Oh shit, you might be right, why didn’t we check there before, we should go and see before anyone can noticed we’re-“

“Hey guys, come over here”

Keith and Lance looked over at Desma, she was standing by the path that headed to the cabin, Lance felt his heart drop to his stomach.

“What is it”

“A path, I’ve never noticed it before”

They stood before the path that Lance and Keith had walked down countless times. Lance didn’t really know how to react. He didn’t say anything.

“Do you really think the he followed a path that’s this hard to see, I haven’t really noticed it before either”

The path was easier to see when you were farther down it, the brush was thick at the beginning but pretty much nonexistent when you were closer to the cabin. Lance glanced at Keith.

“It’s hard to see, so maybe he thought that no one would find him down there, it’s worth a shot”

Keith laughed beside him.

“Do you really think Reznor walked through the woods because of whatever reason, it just seems like a weird thing to do”

“It looks like he’s done it quite a few times”

Pidge touched the dirt of the path.

“See, it’s kind of worn out, like someone’s walked on it before, that’s promising, what are you scared of ticks or something, I thought you grew up in the country Keith”

“I grew up in the middle of nowhere actually, it was an hour to get to school, and I’m not scared of ticks that’s stupid”

Kosmo shot out in front of them, he turned around to look at Keith, his tail wagging violently. Keith glared at him.

“Come here Kosmo, stupid idiot”

Instead of listening, Kosmo shot off in the direction of the cabin, Keith cussed under his breath.

“Kosmo”

Ike pointed to where Kosmo ran to.

“Follow the dog”

“No”

Both Keith and Lance said it at the same time.

“Don’t go after the dog, we don’t know what’s down there, it could be dangerous”

“Or Reznor could be down there, I second Ike on this one”

Keith looked at Shiro. Shiro shrugged.

“I want to find Rez, I thought you did too Keith”

“I do want to find Rez, but I don’t want to-“

River shrugged her shoulders and began walking down the path.

“Then we’re gonna go down the creepy ass path, where the fuck else are we supposed to look, we checked every where else, if walking down a path that probably has big ass spiders means we find Rez, then I’m in”

She continued to walk down the path, her shoes kicked up dirt as she walked, Pidge started to follow her.

“River has a point, it’s the only place we haven’t looked, and he could be down here, I’m going with River”

Shiro joined Pidge and River, soon everyone else, but Keith and Lance, were walking down the narrow path. 

“They’re gonna find the cabin Keith”

Keith nodded, he turned to look at Lance.

“They’re gonna know I’ve been there too, my drawings are in there, I don’t hide them because I don’t, didn’t need to, Shiro’s gonna know that they’re mine”

Lance let out a breath. The sky felt like it was coming down on them, like the little world that Keith and Lance had built at that cabin was burning and falling down around them. The end was closer than Lance wanted it to be.

“The fuck are we gonna say then”

Keith shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Guess we’ll figure it out when we get there”

Lance walked slower than he ever had when he was walking to the cabin. He didn’t want to see everyone else in the small wooden cabin with the shitty wooden desk, and the even shittier futon. He didn’t want to see everyone figuring out that Keith had been there and then slowly connecting the dots that Lance had also been there. He didn’t want to hear their questions or what they had to say about it. He didn’t want them to know.

“I never intended to tell anyone about the cabin”

Keith had been dragging his feet on the ground, they were just surrounded by woods, the cabin wasn’t too far.

“Not even you, especially not you, I was gonna spend all summer by myself in there, then I’d take all my things out and probably not think about it again”

Lance looked at Keith from the corner of his eye.

“Then your nosy ass had to follow me there, I wasn’t gonna let you in, then it started raining and I couldn’t leave you out there, even if I told myself that I hated you, I wanted to hate you, I knew that I didn’t”

Keith’s chest rose and fell quickly, he looked at the trees above them.

“Then I hit you, and as weird as it is, that made me realize I didn’t hate you, that I definitely didn’t hate you, I really tried to forget about it, I tried to convince myself that we were better when we were fighting”

He smiled at Lance.

“Didn’t work obviously, don’t really know what came over me when I kissed you, your eyes I guess, I don’t know, it’s probably the smartest stupid decision I’ve ever made, I never intended to talk about it again, I was scared”

Twigs snapped under Lance’s feet, he didn’t say anything. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. 

“That didn’t go how I thought it would though, then you told me about your dad, and I was honestly pissed off, I don’t get how anyone can even think about treating you like shit, you didn’t need that at the moment, we need to come up with a way to fix that, or make it better, I don’t care which”

Lance’s shoulders sagged, he just listened to Keith speak.

“Then Rez started being weird, and now we’re here”

They stood with everyone else in front of the cabin. Everyone looked at it as if it was an abomination. Lance looked at it like it was home. Never did he think this entire summer that he would find home anywhere else but in Cuba. This stupid cabin in the middle of the woods in Mooresville, Alabama, the one where the world disappeared and the only things alive in the universe were Keith and him, it had become home. This was home.

“I didn’t know there was another cabin, no one had ever said anything about it when we rented the place”

The chipping paint on the door and the moss that grew on the wood were things that Lance hadn’t noticed at night. One of the windows was broken, the one closest to the door, Lance laughed.

“Reznor”

Shiro called out his name and opened the door. There he was, Reznor sitting on the futon, Keith’s drawings were spread out on the bed, the chair was moved away from the desk.

“Why the fuck would you do that, we were worried sick, we were thinking about filing a missing person report for you, god damn it Reznor, we’ve been looking for you all day”

Reznor stared wide eyed at them. He looked speechless.

Everyone else was looking around the cabin, a few people held drawings in their hands, Charlotte plopped down on the futon.

“Why’d you come here Keith”

Shiro said it with a laugh. He held the drawings out for Allura to look at. She thumbed through them as Keith searched for words.

“I-I needed space, I’ve been coming here since like September, was a way to get away from the world, I guess”

Lance leaned against the door frame. Everything seemed so off, there were too many people here.

“I watched Keith walk here one night when I couldn’t sleep, I followed him and I’ve been coming here ever since”

The Blue Cabin kids laughed.

“This is where you’ve been going at night, you could have just said that Lance, this is a stupid thing to keep a secret”

Charlotte wiped tears out of her eyes.

“You could have just told us about it, holy shit Lance”

Lance looked at Keith, he was sitting in the spinning chair, looking at his drawings.

“I wanted it to be special”

Keith looked up to meet his gaze, a small dusting of blush laid on his cheeks. Keith laughed and looked back down at his drawings.

“It is special you idiot, everyone finding out about it doesn’t make it any less special”

“We do not remember days, we remember moments, Cesare Pavese”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“Your poetry is still shit”

Lance’s eyes softened.

“It’s not by me, but you get what I’m saying, the cabin isn’t the part that matters, sure it’s what brought us together, but it’s not the thing that connected us, it’s all the little stuff we did here, we could have done that anywhere, the cabin was just the starting point”

“What the fuck is going on, I’m so confused”

Charlotte had taken off her hat and had her hand halfway through her hair. Her eyes shifted between Keith and Lance.

“Charlotte you idiot, use your brain cell, this is why Lance leaves at night”

Amber hit Charlotte in the back of the head. Charlotte's mouth hung open.

“Oh, oh, well you didn’t have to lie to us about it Lance, we wouldn’t have cared, I would have teased you about it either way”

Shiro had sat down Keith’s sketchbook and turned to Reznor.

“Did you know how fucking worried we were, we couldn’t find you and I thought I was gonna get sued by your parents for a minute, you didn’t have to run away, we’ve spent all fucking day looking for you, Keith was worried fucking sick, I thought you were dead Reznor”

“River literally spent the whole time cussing us out because we couldn’t find you”

Pidge laughed when River backhanded her on the arm.

“I did not, I was worried that we wouldn’t find you”

River’s face has turned red, she wouldn’t look at Reznor.

“The summer wouldn’t be the same without you, and, I would have, missed you if you were gone”

“Because she likes you”

Rez’s head snapped to River. Her face looked like a tomato, her eyes widened, she looked at Ike. Everyone else in the cabin screamed “what” at the same time.

“What the fuck Ike, I told you that because I thought I could trust you with it, why would you tell everyone”

She was looking at Ike with large eyes, the blush spread down to her neck.

“He’s being serious, River why didn’t you say anything”

Keith’s head panned between the three of them, his mouth hung open.

“Why didn’t I know about it”

“You were trying to figure out everything with Lance and I didn’t want to stop you from that, so I just told Ike because I thought he could keep it a secret”

Reznors eyes hadn’t left River.

“River, why didn’t you tell me sooner, how long have you known”

“I-I don’t know, I never planned on telling you, I was gonna leave and maybe we would see each other at football games, maybe not, I was just hoping that would be enough for me, but now you know so that plan is gone”

Reznor looked at Keith, his eyes pleaded for help, Keith shrugged.

“That’s a horrible plan, you know”

“I’m aware”

Ruth scoffed.

“A blind person could see that you two like each other, you’re just oblivious as hell, I’ve known that for like a month, Keith has probably liked Lance since the beginning of the summer”

“That’s not true, it’s actually been-“

Ruth shushed him.

“God damn, I guess love is in the air”

“So why’d you run away Rez”

Reznor put his head down.

“I get tired of being around people sometimes and I haven’t got a lot of alone time this summer, so I looked for somewhere no one else was, and I found this cabin”

“We would have just left you alone Rez”

Rivers' voice was soft. She laughed at him.

“You idiot, had me worried sick and it’s for something we could have prevented”

She shook her head and ran a hand down her face. 

“I’m just glad that we found you, Keith thought you were dead”

Ike sat by Reznor, his feet kicked in the air. Reznor ruffled his hair.

“I didn’t think you were dead, I just knew you were missing”

“I’m sorry”

Reznor's shoulders slumped, his hand was in Rivers.

“If I would have known that it would cause so much trouble I wouldn’t have done it, I was just thinking about myself, I should have thought about you guys being worried about me”

Ike threw his arms around Rez, he hugged Ike back.

Shiro sighed.

“I’m just glad we’re not gonna get sued and that you’re alive and fine, that’s all I cared about when you went missing and now everything is okay”

Lance shook his head.

“Well the only thing I’ve had to eat today is ice cream, and I’d really like to have a real meal, I’m glad we found you Rez, I really am, but I’m gonna starve to death”

“You guys got ice cream, lucky, Shiro wouldn’t let us get any”

Amber looked at Shiro.

“Coran wouldn’t get us any either, it was bullshit”

The kids raced to the campgrounds, River and Reznor held hands on the way there. Today was a fucking mess. Lance started to go back, he stopped when he realized foot steps were following him.

“You sure you’re okay”

Lance snaked an arm around Keith’s waist. They stared at the cabin.

“Yeah, just, so much shit has happened today, I never, I don’t know Lance”

Lance laid his head on Keith’s shoulder.

“I feel like I’m dreaming, everything about this summer is just so unbelievable, especially now, feel shaken up”

Lance could feel Keith nod his head. Kosmo sat between Lance's legs.

“Yeah, I get what you mean, I’m glad we found Res though, now you can quit worrying about him and go back to regular, has a somewhat normal sleep schedule, and isn’t as moody Keith”

Keith chuckled. He dug in his pocket and placed his key under a rock, Lance guessed that’s where he found it.

“Won’t be needing that anymore, hopefully it’s doesn’t rain too much, I’ll have to fix it sometime”

“Fuck”

Keith laughed, his purple eyes met Lance’s.

“Yeah, fuck”

They walked back to the campground, hand in hand, footsteps in unison, and love in their hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I’m probably gonna cry writing next chapter, but I’m going to ignore that right now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! There’s only two left... crazy to think about.


	30. When It’s All Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know what to say honestly. I’m just trying to keep my shit together because I’m seconds away from loosing my sanity. Yeah, I hope you enjoy this chapter, one more left....

They all woke up at the same time with the alarm blaring outside, but it felt different, felt wrong. Lance laid in bed and just listened to the siren, there was nothing different about it.

“Good morning Lance, did you sleep well”

Charlotte had hung her head down from her bunk to look at Lance, he smiled at her, it was almost like she didn’t know what today was.

“I’ve slept better, not the worst sleep I’ve ever gotten though”

Their bags were sitting by the door, he could hear Anthony rummaging around in the bathroom. His heart sank. Charlotte sighed.

“It doesn’t feel right, I feel like we should be getting ready to eat breakfast right now, not packing up to leave, summer went by too fast”

Anthony walked out with a bag. He sat it by the other two bags he had. Lance didn’t want to get dressed. Amber sat her bags on top of Anthony’s.

“Come on Lance, you have to pack too, I know you’re nowhere close to being ready”

He set his feet on the floor, and stood up, he didn't have to pack today, Luis wouldn’t be here for a few days, he did anyway so that he had something to do other than mope around. They sat on the bottom bunks.

“Luis won’t be here for a few days, so I have time to pack”

Anthony started crying, he tried to disguise it as sneezing, it didn’t work. 

“I don’t really want to go home”

Charlotte dug her toes in the ground, the floor creaked.

“I’m not ready to go to someone’s else house every other week, if our parents are divorced that’s what we’ll have to do Amber”

“Shut up Anthony”

Amber smiled and patted their bags.

“I’m trying to not be sad today, goodbyes aren’t forever, alright, we’ll see everyone again, and we have probably a few hours before everyone has to get picked up, savor it and don’t talk about our parents divorce”

“I don’t even know if my dad knows to pick me up today, I’m not sure what I’ll do if he doesn’t know”

Lance looked around their cabin. It felt empty, it looked almost exactly like it did when he got there. 

“I’m sure someone will drive you home if your dad doesn’t come”

Lance understood that, he also was the last one to be picked up from his cross country meets in middle school, Luis had purposely left him at school before too.

“Fucking school starts soon, ugh”

Lance helped Anthony pack his things outside and set them by the cabin steps. River and Reznor were sitting together on the red cabin steps. Ike walked out with his bags. Green cabin was already all outside, Pidge stood next to them.

“Fuck”

Lance wore the shirt he had when he met everyone, the blue one with the stretched v on it. He wanted today to feel like the beginning, it still felt like an ending. Keith walked out of the cabin and smiled at Lance.

“Got everything”

“Yes, I double checked”

River sounded like she was barely keeping it together, her voice cracked mind way through. 

“That’s good”

Reznor grabbed River's hand and stroked her knuckles. Lance moved towards the campfire and sat on one of the logs. Coran sat next to him.

“Summer went by quick, didn’t it”

“Yeah, it really did Coran”

Pidge joined them by the campfire, the entirety of Green cabin joined her.

“Some things can’t last forever I guess, just ended too quick”

Pidge pushed up her glasses, Ruth and Desma sat at Pidges feet, Frances sat by Pidge on the log, their things piled by green cabin. 

“We were trying to ignore it but now it’s here, can’t stop time I guess”

Desma messed with a braid that hung in front of her face. River sat down beside Desma.

“I really thought I was gonna hate this summer, I didn’t, so thank you all for that”

Ike’s feet made beats against the log, Kosmo licked his face, he laughed.

“I’ve never been away from home this long before, can’t believe I have to go home now”

Ike said it to Kosmo’s face, it was meant for everyone. River held her hand out to Keith, he arched his eyebrow.

“Give me your stupid android”

Keith reached into his pocket and gave his phone to River.

She typed something quickly and handed it back to him.

“It’s my Snapchat, so we can stay in touch after today, I don’t want you to forget me”

“I think it’s be really hard to forget you River, trust me you don’t have to worry about that”

River smiled at him and stood awkwardly for a minute, after a while she threw her arms around Keith’s shoulders. He seized up before he eventually hugged her back. Ike hugged one of each of their legs, Reznor also joined in.

“God fucking damn it River”

Keith was crying crocodile tears, his lips were turned up at the corner.

“I told myself I wasn’t gonna cry, no one is even fucking gone yet”

“I wasn’t gonna cry either, because I tried to convince myself I didn’t give a shit, but I do give a shit, and I hate that I do”

Anthony sniffled next to Lance. Lance tried to hold back his tears, it really didn’t work.

“You all can not cry today, please quit crying”

Shiro stood by the mess hall, his arms were crossed. To make everything better, a car rolled into the gravel driveway, the rocks crunched under its wheels.

Tears rolled down Lance cheeks, Anthony buried his face in Lance’s arm.

Desma’s mom stepped out of the vehicle and waved at her. Desma hugged her mom upon seeing her. She talked with Shiro about things as Desma threw her things in the back, she hugged Shiro. Desma waved at everyone, Lance waved back with tears in his eyes. The summer really was over.

They watched as the car rolled away. Desmas face was in the back window. First one to arrive and the first one to leave.

Ike was next, he held onto Keith’s leg as Keith rocked him back and forth. You could hear Ike crying.

“I’m not ready to go home”

“I know Ike it’s okay, I’ll call you okay, promise, we’ve got your mom's number and I’ll call alright”

He cried all the way to his mom, she rubbed his head and opened the door for Ike, he pressed his face against the window and looked out with a sad look. Shiro waved at him from outside, Reznor and River waved till their arms felt like they were gonna fall off.

Ruth was next; she didn’t say much, except that she was going to miss Pidge.

“I’m really trying not to cry, I sound really ugly cry”

Amber and Anthony were next, their dad pulled up in a car. He looked a lot like the two of them. Anthony started bawling.

“I don’t wanna go, don’t you dare forget about me okay, and don’t forget to be yourself no matter what people say, fuck people’s opinions, and take care of yourself, and don’t get arrested and-“

“Anthony, shut the fuck up, thank you Lance, this is probably the best summer of my life, and most of it is thanks to you so, I couldn’t have enjoyed this summer without you”

Anthony and Amber sandwiched Lance in a hug, Lance held onto them like it was his lifeline.

“Thank you guys for everything, don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you, probably angry at myself, you really made this summer worth it”

Their dad stood awkwardly by the car as Lance helped Anthony carry all of his things to their car.

“Hope they didn’t cause too much trouble”

Their dad put Anthony in a headlock and gave him a nuggie.

“They’re very well behaved, almost no problems, thank you for letting them come”

“I thought it was something they needed, seems like they enjoyed it”

Lance waved at them as they drove away Anthony stuck his head out the window and yelled.

“Don’t you dare forget about me Lance McClain”

“Not in a million years Anthony”

Lance sat down by Charlotte and sighed, he watched them drive away til he couldn’t see them anymore. He felt like something was missing.

“I need more time here, I can’t leave yet”

Charlotte's chin was in her hand, she had a pout on her lips.

“I understand that, your parents will probably be excited to see you again though”

River grunted and shrugged. 

“My mom will probably cry when she sees me again”

“You never did teach us that cuss word in Spanish”

Lance laughed.

“You’re right, I totally forgot about that, guess your shit out of luck”

Charlotte laughed and didn’t say anything else.

River and Reznors parents arrived at the same time, Rivers dad in an expensive looking car, Reznor's mom in what reminded Lance of a hearse. 

“River, it’s felt like forever since I’ve seen you sweetheart”

Her dad looked like a serious and scary person, he smiled when he saw River.

“I missed you daddy”

She hugged her dad around the waist and big hands patted her back. 

“Call me when you get home okay, we can make a plan to meet somewhere, whenever you’re free”

Reznor smiled at her.

“That works, and every football game”

River laughed.

“And every football game”

Reznor's hand was around River's wrist. When they quit taking, Reznor let go of her wrist with a blush on his face. She waved at him, then turned to wave at Keith, and got in the car, her dad shut the door and walked to the drivers side. Reznor waved at Keith and got into the car. He started talking as soon as he got in the car. They both drove away in the same direction.

A different looking car came, it was something like Lance had never seen before. A woman that looked a lot like Frances walked out. Frances hugged Pidge.

“Thank you Pidge, I really enjoyed this summer”

“I’m glad that you did Frances”

Frances walked to her car and waved at everyone.

“Bye, thank you all so much”

That left Charlotte. She sat with her elbows on her knees, she didn’t look very happy.

“What are you doing when you get home”

“I don’t know, I’m probably gonna get a job, I worked at a small shoe store, I hope they’ll hire me again, I liked working there, school shopping”

Lance nodded at that.

“I need a new backpack, and I need to rent my books again, I’m excited to see my family again, I’ve missed my mom”

Charlotte sighed.

“My parents are okay I guess, dad will hopefully pick me up soon, then I’ll probably cook dinner when I get home, do my summer work, sleep”

“That sounds nice, not as good as swimming in a lake, but could be worse”

Charlotte didn’t answer.

“Do you know when your dad might be here, no hurry”

“No, I’m not sure”

Allura stood by them. She smiled at Charlotte.

“You can help us clean until your dad gets here, only if you’d like to”

“Sure, I’ll help”

“Keith, Lance”

They turned towards Shiro.

“Clean up your cabin too”

Keith laughed, he shot fingers at Shiro and walked toward the woods.

“No problem”

The cabin had a lot of shit in it. Most of it was Keith’s, two jackets, a blanket, his sketchbook, another pair of glasses.

“I thought I lost these holy shit”

Small trinkets Lance hadn’t paid much attention to. Keith picked up a small white bell with blue flowers on it, it ringed when it moved.

“Sister Josephine gave this to me when I left the orphanage, it means a lot to me”

“I’m sure it does, it’s pretty”

They didn’t say much after that, Keith put all his things together in two boxes. Lance watched him as he did it.

“Y’know when you’re leaving”

“I have to call Luis to pick me up, it’ll take a few day for him to get here, so I don’t really know”

Keith sat down on the futon, he bounced as his butt hit the mattress.

“A few days till we’re days apart”

“I was trying not to think about that, but yeah, a few days until we’re days apart”

The boxes sat by the door. Lance sat down by Keith. Keith looked at him and picked up his hand.

“You think we can make it work, being long distance”

Lance ignored the waver in Keith’s voice.

“Don’t see why we couldn’t, we’re not gonna change any just because we’re not right by each other, we can see each other in the summer and on winter break, and any other time we have off, and if we make it through college then we can move in together somewhere”

Keith glanced at the boxes and smiled. He stood and kissed Lance on the forehead.

“You’re right, I’m being stupid again”

“When aren’t you being stupid”

Keith picked one of the boxes and nodded towards the other one.

“I’d like your help with that box, if you’d like to help me”

Lance picked up the box and grunted, Keith laughed at him.

“It’s too quiet”

“Charlotte’s still here, she wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to you”

Lance adjusted the box in his arms, they walked out. Lance didn’t look back at it. Keith laughed at his side.

“I never thought when I came to fucking Mooresville Alabama, that I would fall in love, and end up missing a bunch of kids I did even want to look after, but here I am, both of those things are real”

“Life throws crazy shit at you, I didn’t plan on falling in love this summer either”

When they got out of the woods, Allura was stacking the benches and Charlotte was helping her. Hunk was taking the trash to the dumpster. Coran was sweeping the dirt from the concrete by the mess hall.

A raggedy red trunk with rust on the bumper, pulled up. Charlotte frowned at it.

“Looks like your dad is here Charlotte”

Lance looked at Charlotte, she glanced towards her bags, a tear slipped down her face.

“Yeah, looks like it”

Charlotte moved the last bench and went to grab her things. She held the duffel bag with both hands, she stood in front of everyone at the entrance. Her feet shifted in the dirt.

“Thank you for this summer, I really liked it here”

Tears rolled down her face, she wouldn’t look up at anyone.

“My summer would have been terrible if you guys didn’t host the camp so again, thank you, I’m probably never gonna forget this summer”

Lance wrapped his arms around Charlotte, he looked at her dad in his truck. They had the same brown hair and brown eyes, his eyes held something Lance knew, but he couldn’t put a finger on. He didn’t look very happy.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it Charlotte, it was my pleasure getting to be your counselor for the summer, enjoy school okay, don’t forget about me”

“I just said I’d never forget this summer, I don’t think you listen sometimes Lance, really though thank you”

She picked up her bag and walked to her dad's truck. She talked to Shiro for a while, Shiro patted her head and she climbed into the truck, throwing her duffle bag in the back. She waved out the back window, then leaned her head against the window. The red truck pulled away, the dust from the gravel kicked up behind it.

“I should probably call Luis, anyone have quarters”

He got quarters from everyone and went to dial Luis’s number, Keith sat with him by the phone, Lance’s foot tapped as it rang.

“Hello, this is Luis McClain”

“Hey Luis, how have you been”

Luis shouted at everyone else that he was on the phone. He could hear his father scream at Luis to shut up. Lance’s heart clenched.

“Lance, god it feels like forever since you’ve called, everything alright”

“Yeah, nothings wrong”

He looked at Keith and moved the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. Lance caressed his cheek.

“Everyone left today, it was pick up day, so it’s just the other counselors and I, no rush, you can pick me up whenever”

“Oh fuck, I didn’t even realize what today was honestly, shit, I’ll start heading there now if you’d like”

Keith looked at him, his eyes shifted around his face, Lance smiled at him.

“Whatever works for you, I don’t care”

“I’ll probably head out now honestly, quite a bit of shit has changed around here since you left, I don’t know what it’s gonna be like when we get home”

Lance’s heart was beating loudly in his ears. He curled Keith’s hair around his finger.

“That’s okay, gives me a few days to pack”

Luis laughed on the other side of the line, Lance didn’t know what was so funny.

“We’ll be glad to have you back Lance, been really quiet without you hermano, I’ve missed you”

“I’ve missed you too Luis”

Lance sighed into the phone. Luis didn’t ask about it.

“Dads gone right now by the way, you won’t have to worry about that, moms excited to have you back, she has a lot of tomatoes right now, she’s waiting on you to help her pick them”

“Won’t have to wait long”

Lance heard a door open on the other side of the phone, it closed soon after.

“See you when I get there okay Lance”

“Okay, bye Luis, see you soon”

Lance put the phone back on the hook, he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Keith.

“Eighty something hours till I leave, let’s make the most out of it guess”

Keith laughed, his eyes were still red from crying earlier.

“That’s not enough time”

“It’s the time we have”

They were inseparable. They spent every second of the day together. Pressed together at lunch, hand in hand as they walked around the campground, Lance’s head on Keith’s shoulder as they sat around the campfire. They had even pressed two bunks together, Lance’s head under Keith’s chin as they slept in each other's arms.

Now Lance’s bags sat by the door, Blue Cabin was completely empty, except for the bunk beds. All of Lance’s things were piled together. He sat by Keith on the steps.

“Call me when you get home, I wanna make sure you don’t die on the way there, and if anything is wrong you can talk to me about it, or anything, you can call me for any reason”

Lance placed his head on Keith’s shoulder. Everyone else joined them.

“It was nice meeting you Lance, glad we could spend the summer with you”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily Shirogane, might be stuck with me forever, who knows”

Keith chuckled. 

“We’re gonna miss you having you around”

Pidge hugged him, he hugged Pidge back. Hunk joined in on their hug.

“Thank you guys for everything, can’t believe I’m saying goodbye so soon”

“Our summer would have been so boring without you, can’t imagine what everything would have been like if you weren’t here”

Lance shoved his hands in his pockets as he heard gravel crunch behind him. He didn’t know how to feel.

Keith helped him walk his bags to the front. Luis was standing by his truck, he was looking at Lance, tears in his eyes. He turned to Keith.

“Fuck”

Keith laughed and pulled him in for a hug. His hands rubbed his back.

“I love you”

Lance felt tears roll down his face.

“I love you too Kenneth”

Lance tried to ingrave what Keith smelt like into his brain. Tried to remember the smell of apline wood like his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

“We’ll find time to see each other alright, Christmas is a good time, how’s that sound”

“Good, Christmas”

Keith laughed.

“And FaceTime, we can FaceTime, it’s not the same but it’s close”

“Yeah FaceTime, fuck Keith”

Lance looked up to see Luis glaring at him, Lance mouthed, give me a minute.

“Bye Keith, that’s so much harder than it should be, god damn it”

“I wasn’t gonna say goodbye because I didn’t want everything to feel so final, I don’t know if I want to say goodbye”

Lance shook his head.

“You don’t have to, don’t say it okay, I’ll see you around Christmas, alright”

“Alright, Christmas”

Keith walked Lance to Luis’s truck and threw his bags in the back seat.

“I hope Lance wasn’t too much trouble, he’s always a bit of trouble”

Keith laughed.

“No, he wasn’t that bad, maybe a little too talkative, and annoying sometimes but other than that he was pretty okay”

Lance hit him in the arm and told him to shut up.

“Sounds like how most people would describe Lance so, I’d say he was pretty okay, I missed you dumbass”

Luis wrapped his arms around Lance and pulled him into a hug. He smelt like home.

“I missed you too Luis”

He watched Keith swallow hard.

“See yah Lance”

Lance hopped into the passenger's seat, his hand gripped the grab handle, he smiled.

“Bye Keith”

Everyone stood and waved at him as the two of them drove down the road. Lance pressed his face to the glass and waved back, he didn’t stop waving until he couldn’t see them anymore.

“Seems like you enjoyed the summer, I’m glad you got to come here, been a shitshow at home”

Lance didn’t answer. He stared at the window and watched the beautiful countryside of America roll by as they drove farther from Mooresville, Alabama. Lance eventually fell asleep. He prayed everything wasn’t just a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I’ll probably get the last chapter out soon, I can’t comprehend that it’s almost over, that’s so fucking crazy. I knew this was coming and I’m still not ready for it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!


	31. And Everything has an Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter!! I can’t believed it’s over. I really hope you enjoy it!!

Keith had said it got cold in the winter in New York when he sent Lance a coat in the mail. Lance didn’t think cold meant twenty fucking degrees. He sat freezing his ass off in a taxi, hoping he could figure out which building Keith and Shiro’s apartment was in. Keith had said something about a red thing over the door.

“Do you know what it’s called”

“Oriana, River Tower, and a red thing over the door, that’s all I know”

“I know where that is, you’re good”

Lance hugged his bag to his chest. His mom had worried about him going all alone to America, he told her that he would be fine on his own, and would call if he needed anything. 

“Quit worrying about him mom”

Veronica, who had come back home after hearing their dad was gone for good, spoke to their mother.

“From what I’ve heard Keith isn’t going to let Lance get hurt mom, he’ll be fine in America”

Ronnie was the only one he had really told about Keith. Everyone knew who Keith was, he constantly talked about him, or was talking to him on the phone. Ronnie was the only one who knew they were dating.

“Maybe Keith isn’t who you think he is”

“I get that you’re worried about me, but you don’t need to worry about it, I’ll be fine, alright, I know him better than you think I do”

His mom worried about it till he left, and was probably still worried about it now.

“Here we are”

Lance paid the taxi driver and hoped out of the car. Snow fell around him, the cold bit at his skin. He walked inside the building, his jaw dropped when he saw how huge the building really was. The guy at the front desk stared at him. Keith said they were on the fourth floor, room four thirty five if he remembered right.

The elevator was huge, bigger than both of the bathrooms in his house combined. He was on the fourth floor before he could even count to ten.

The carpets were black and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. Railings kept you from falling off, you could see the lobby from every floor. Lance looked at the plate on the wall and tried to find the room he was looking for.

He stood in front of the door Keith said was his room. He knocked on the door, two strong taps with his knuckles. Barking followed his knock.

“Coming, Kosmo shut up”

Came from inside. It was a voice that Lance didn’t know that well. The door unlocked and opened. Adam, or who Lance was pretty sure was Adam, opened it and was holding Kosmo by the collar.

“Hello, oh wait, you’re Lance”

Adam laughed and moved out of the way, he waved Lance in and pointed to the hook by the door. Lance patted Kosmo on the head.

“You can hang your coat up there”

Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and Matt were sitting at the dining room table, Lance looked around the apartment. Pidge jumped up and ran to him, she threw her arms around him. She held him at arms lengths and looked at his face.

“What happened to your eye”

He had honestly forgotten about it, his mom finally kicked his dad out of the house. It was his final rage, the last time his dad would ever get to hit him. It was different than the other times his dad had hit him.

“It doesn’t matter anymore”

A crash happened down the hall, everyone turned their heads to where Keith stood, his hands on the door frames, his hair wet, a big smile on his face.

“Lance”

They met in the middle, Lance buried his nose in Keith’s neck, Keith held onto him like it was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment. They eventually pulled back, Keith's eyes scanned him.

“I fucking missed you, it’s been forever”

“Only a few months”

Lance put his hand on the back of Keith’s head, Lance pressed their lips together, he sighed into the kiss. Keith pressed his thumb lightly to Lance’s eye.

“Don’t worry about that, it’s the last time that he’ll ever get to do that, okay, my parents are getting divorced”

Lance whispered it when they pulled apart.

“You’re kidding”

Lance laughed.

“No I’m being serious, the last time we talked it was so loud because my mom was screaming at my dad to get out of the house, I convinced her a few weeks ago that he was never gonna stop hurting us, and she tried to kick him out ten days ago, he got angry, did his same old shit and left, hopefully for good”

Keith smiled.

“I hope he’s gone for good, that’s a good thing for you and probably everyone else in your family, dinner is almost ready, you’re probably hungry”

Lance walked to the couch and sat down by Keith, everyone else was in the kitchen, Keith was in nice jeans, and a black shirt with flowers.

“How have you been Lance”

“Okay, stressed out, but what’s new honestly”

She laughed and began setting the table.

“Anything new”

Pidge kicked her feet up on one of the chairs.

“My sister is back home, she has a boyfriend my mom doesn’t like, he’s not too bad I guess, I don’t know him that well, my dad is gone, which is good, school hasn’t been too bad, passed all my finals, and now I’m in America, which still smells like shit”

Matt laughed.

“Get used to it, it always smell like shit here, no matter where you go, it just changes a little bit”

Lance went to get up, but was pulled back down by Keith.

“We have reservations at a restaurant, that’s why I told you to bring something nice to wear, if you wanna put that on right now you can”

“That’s why you’re wearing your nice jeans and a watch, who are you and what have you done with Keith”

Keith rubbed his knee. Before he stood up and motioned for Lance to follow him. They walked towards what Lance guessed was Keith’s room, Lance set in bags by his bedroom door as they walked in.

“I like watches okay, it’s nice to know the time, now get ready, you have an hour before we have to be there”

“Fucking hell, that is not enough time to do what I need to do, you should have told me sooner”

Keith laughed and plopped down on his bed, his hand propped up his head as he looked at Lance.

“You don’t have to shower right now, you look fine, just get dressed”

“I got off a plane not too long ago, I should probably fucking shower, I feel disgusting”

Keith’s eyes scanned him, he was smiling when their eyes met again.

“I just said you look good, I’m being serious, I hope you don’t mind walking there, the traffic here is a bitch to get through”

Lance rolled his eyes, he dug through his bag to find the clothes he wanted to put on.

“You have to say that because you’re my boyfriend Keith”

Lance changed out of his sweatpants, and put on jeans. He put on a blue flannel his mom had gotten him for his birthday.

“Trust me, I would have told you if you looked ugly, I don’t really care that I’m your boyfriend”

“So sweet of you Keith, it’s good to know that you won’t lie to me I guess”

Keith was blushing, it was faint but enough for Lance to see. He hadn’t stopped smiling since he got in the taxi. 

“We can go whenever you’re ready, it’ll take us maybe thirty minutes to walk, so don’t take too long”

“Just ignore my sentence, okay, damn”

It felt so good to see Keith in person, it was different than taking to him on the phone. Sometimes it felt like Keith wasn’t really there, they would talk for hours and Lance never forgot that he was on the phone, but he was just so far away, it didn’t feel like Keith was real. Keith was as real as ever, and he was laying on his bed, looking at Lance like he was the only other person in the world.

“What did you want me to say, of course I wouldn’t lie, lying is a bad habit, I try to always tell the truth”

“That’s good Keith, I’m ready if you are”

They walked out of Keith’s room. Both of them sat at he for and put on their shoes, Keith handed Lance his coat.

“You two don’t get in trouble, I’m not bailing you out”

Shiro shouted to them as Keith was tying his boots. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

“He knows that’s a stupid thing to say, he’d bail me out if I called”

Lance pulled him up from the bench that sat by the door. Keith shrugged on his jacket and took a lanyard off of the nails by the door. A pair of keys hung off of it, the rattle as he shoved them in the pocket of his jeans.

“Whatever Shirogane”

Keith opened the door for Lance, he walked out, zipping his jacket as he went. Keith shut the door behind him. They walked towards the elevator, Lance still looked around in amazement.

“I expected your apartment to look like shit honestly”

Lance jumped in the elevator, Keith stared at him.

“Yeah, Adam makes quite a bit of money, so we can afford a nice apartment like this, when Shiro and I start hopefully we’ll also make quite a bit”

The guy at the front desk stared at them as they walked out the door. Keith paid no attention to him, Lance waved at him.

“The fuck is that guy’s problem”

Lance brought his coat closet to his body as he shivered due to the cold air, his teeth stared to chatter.

“Jeremy fucking hates us, I’m not one hundred percent sure why though, Shiro did something to piss him off but I don’t know what that thing is”

The streets of New York were busy, people walked fast and cars honked all around him. Shops were lit up with the lights that were still up from Christmas. Keith grabbed onto his hand as he started to walk.

“Shiro pissed him off, are you sure it wasn’t you that pissed him off”

“I swear it wasn’t me, Shiro told him to mind his own fucking business because he always flirted with Allura, and she made it obvious that she was not interested, Matt also convinced him that Allura and him were together somehow, so he fucking hates Matt, living with them means he hates me too I guess”

Keith flowed with the busy streets with ease, they walked quickly and didn’t pay attention to others, Lance struggled to keep up with his walking speed, taking bigger steps than usual. Keith looked up every once in a while to look at the signs on buildings.

“That’s fucking stupid”

“I know, like sorry you’re too short for her, not my fucking fault”

Snow stuck to Keith’s hair, his nose and cheeks had turned red from the cold.

“That’s the reason she doesn’t like him”

Keith stopped at a buliding, the tables outside were covered in snow, the awning over the door looked like it was going to collapse due to the snow that sat on top of it.

“I don’t know”

Keith opened the door for him, he shook the snow from his hair as he walked in. The walked to the front desk, where a guy wearing a black suit vest and black tie stood.

“Name”

“Kogane”

The guy grabbed two menus and stepped out behind the desk, he motioned for them to follow them.

“Right this way Mr.Kogane”

They sat down at a table away from others, a small candle sat on the table, Lance heart pounded in his chest, he smiled at the candle. He hung his coat on the back of his chair.

“Mr.Kogane”

Keith rolled his eyes at him. He picked up a menu and opened it.

“I’ve have never been called that in my life, guess that’s what you get at restaurants with reservations”

“You sound nervous”

Keith laughed, his eyes didn’t leave the menu.

“A little, scared I’m gonna fuck everything up”

“You aren’t going to”

Lance watched Keith’s eyes scan the menu, his chest expanded as he sighed.

“You haven’t yet, I thought we got past this Keith”

Lance picked up the menu, and looked at it, the prices listed on some of the food worried him. Who would pay that much for food? 

“I, just don’t want to lose you, you mean too much to me”

Keith had been worried about messing everything up for a while, since they started dating, maybe before that. Lance could never imagine Keith fucking everything up, Lance couldn’t stay mad at him for more than two hours. Keith could never make Lance hate him, he’d have to try really hard to.

“You aren’t going to”

Lance repeated.

“You’d have to try really hard to fuck up so bad I leave, we’re gonna mess up and probably argue at some point, that’s just part of it, now quit worrying about fucking upper and worry about what you’re gonna eat”

Lance reached across the table and grabbed Keith’s hand, they were sweaty. Lance shook his head.

“You idiot, worried about the stupidest shit at the wrong time, I’m not gonna leave, okay, especially now, I missed you too much to leave now”

Lance kept his hand in Keith’s as he decided what he was gonna eat. Lance wasn’t a big pasta person, he didn’t hate it though, he wasn’t gonna say anything to Keith.

“Can’t believe you’re worried about me leaving you, stupid”

Keith laughed.

“I’m being serious, I’m scared I’m gonna fuck up so bad you leave me”

Lance squeezed his hand.

“It’s never even crossed my mind, I’m not going anywhere Keith, promise”

One side of Keith’s lips curved up. It put butterflies in Lance's stomach. Why would he even start to think about leaving? Lance never could.

Their server came up to their table, a book in his hand and a smile on his face.

“I’m Jaime, I’ll be your server tonight, can I start you off with some drinks”

Keith ordered water, even though Lance had turned twenty one over the time they were apart, Keith didn’t let him order alcohol. He ended up ordering sweet tea.

“Did you know what I found out recently”

Lance was glad their last conversation had ended.

“Rez and River are dating, like what the fuck”

Lance laughed.

“You’re shitting”

“No, River sent me a Snapchat of them holding hands, I, didn’t think it would happen honestly, guess I was wrong, they spend a lot of time together, kind of makes sense”

Lance shook his head.

“River is just so loud and Rez is so quiet, just a weird combination I guess, I think it’s kind of cute”

“I’m happy for them, she used to text me everyday about it, like I knew how to fix her problems, I can’t even fix my own, I didn’t know how to help her, she figured it out I guess”

Lance smiled at it.

“Anthony has a boyfriend, they went to homecoming together, I think Amber is feeling let out though, her and Anthony don’t spend as much time together as before, I told her to bring it up with Anthony, I haven’t heard back”

Keith shrugged.

“Good for him I guess, don’t really know what else to say about that situation, I don’t have siblings, that I know of at least”

“It sucks when your siblings start dating people, they usually stop spending time with you, you don’t want to say anything because they’re happy, it’s kind of hard”

He thought about when Luis had gotten his first girlfriend. He didn’t spend any time with Lance while he was with her, it sucked.

“I’m sure Amber will figure it out, she’s smart enough, what about Charlotte”

Lance didn’t answer for a second.

“I don’t know, I don’t have a way to get a hold of her, guess I won’t know, I wish I could talk to her, it reminds me of how Ronnie was before she came back home, who knows how she is”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. Their drinks were sat in front of them, he asked for their orders, Lance ordered the cheapest thing on the dinner menu, it was still kind of expensive.

“Oh, hope she’s okay”

“Me too, kind of makes me worry, y’know”

Keith hummed, he collected their menus and handed them to the waiter. He folded his hands in front of him.

“What happened to your sister, it’s okay if you don’t answer”

“Oh, no you’re good”

Lance waved his hands in the air.

“She just got tired of dads shit sooner than everyone else and left, she didn’t give an indication to where, she just poofed one day and then she came back when dad wasn’t in the picture, I would have done the same thing if mom wasn’t there honestly, I stayed for my mom”

Keith smiled sadly, he twiddled his thumbs.

“Always thinking about other people before yourself, can’t figure out if that’s a flaw or not”

“It’s probably a flaw, it’s not one I hate though, not a bad flaw to have I guess”

Keith shook his head.

“I’ll probably never understand that, honestly, wish you cared about yourself more, put yourself first for once”

Lance laughed.

“I probably never will Keith, I never have”

“You should try every once in a while, just make sure your not killing yourself I guess, fucking hell Lance”

Lance smiled at him.

“You better not talk like that when you meet my mom, she will get on to you, you could be some random stranger on the street and she will yell at you for cursing, she doesn’t give a shit”

“Seriously”

“Yes, she doesn’t care at all who you are”

The waiter came back and sat their food in front of them. He smiled awkwardly and walked away. 

“So I’m probably gonna get chewed out by your mom, nice to know”

“Good thing you’re fluent in Spanish, then you can understand every word”

Lance cut a piece of food and shoved it in his mouth. 

“I honestly forget I can until I’m talking to you and you say something in Spanish and I understand it, and I’m like oh yeah, I’ve taken six years of Spanish”

“The Spanish you learn and the Spanish I speak are completely different, no one speaks proper spanish, I think you sound stupid when you speak Spanish, it’s pretty okay, but my family will laugh at you if you speak in front of them”

Lance shrugged.

“They’re probably gonna pretend they don’t speak English too, especially Luis, so just ignore him I guess”

Keith laughed.

“Sounds fun”

“Yeah, we’ll get past there when you meet them I guess, might be a while till then, but one day you will, hopefully”

“I plan too, so”

Lance had never had a relationship serious enough to take home and meet his family. Especially not a boy. He would never of took the girlfriends he has had home.

“They’ll like you, you’ll fit into the chaos, you’ll feel right at home”

“Can I be honest with you”

Keith sat down his eating utensils and looked at him, a small frown was on his face, Lance looked him up and down.

“I’d like you to always be honest with me”

“You’re family is so, they act like a family, I hear you talk to them over the phone and it’s so, I don’t know, I’ve never really had that though, like Shiro and them are kind of like a family I guess, but that’s different, and I don’t really, know how to act, not really how I wanted to put it but”

Lance felt his heart shatter. 

“Keith”

Tears formed in the corner of Lance’s eyes. He looked at Keith with his mouth opened, word didn’t come out.

“You, don’t have to say sorry, I’m just nervous, meeting your family has crossed my mind a lot, because you talk about them a lot, and I’m scared they’re gonna not gonna like me, because no other family did”

A tear slid down Lance’s cheek.

“I didn’t expect to cry on our date Keith, my family isn’t gonna hate you, especially not Veronica, my mom will like you especially since you can kind of speak Spanish, I said that earlier, not sure about Luis and Marco but fuck them honestly”

Keith wiped the tears from Lance's face.

“So your mom and sister and gonna like me, but not your brothers, who can probably beat me up, great”

“They aren’t gonna beat you up, you’ll just have to try harder to impress them I guess, they’re the only ones I’m scared to tell them I’m dating you, I’d tell my nieces and nephews but they might not get it”

Keith shoved around the vegetables on his plate, he hadn’t touched them.

“I say fuck what they think, if they’re your brothers they’re gonna have to deal with all your shit, they’ll have to learn to live with you being gay, even if you don’t like it, you’re gay, they aren’t changing that”

“You’re right, I’ll work on that when I get home, I’d like to tell them you’re my boyfriend”

Keith looked up from his plate and smiled.

“Then do it, I’ll be there if you want me to be”

“You’ll come all the way to Cuba, just to be there when I tell everyone I’m gay, that sounds disastrous, eat your green beans”

Keith laughed.

“Yeah, but they won’t make a scene if I’m there, so you can tell them while we’re together, I’ll stay there a few days, that’ll give them time to think about it, then you can talk about it more with them when I’m gone, you’re gonna have to tell them eventually”

Lance groaned. He’s thought about telling his mom more than once. When they were cooking dinner together, out in her garden, just sitting in the living room while she was engrossed in her soap operas. He could never find the words, not the right ones.

“It was just a thought Lance, still scared they aren’t gonna like me when they meet me”

“We’ll worry about that when we get there, okay, might be a little while, but eventually they’ll get to meet the famous Keith Kogane that I won’t shut up about apparently”

Lance looked down at Keith’s plate and took a piece of meat that he had cut up off, he popped it into his mouth. Lance thought it was a little chewy.

“If you don’t quit talking about me they might not want to meet me, tired of me before I even talk to them, that wouldn’t be very good, now would it”

“I don’t see how anyone could get tired of you, I couldn’t, and I don’t care if they’re tired of hearing about you, I’m still gonna talk about you, they’ll have to deal with it”

Keith took a drink out of his cup, a smile was on his face.

“We’ve come a long way Lance, can’t believe there was a point when I tried to convince myself I hated you, now I don’t think I could live without you, crazy how life works sometimes”

“Can’t believe there was a point you hit me for no fucking reason”

Keith rolled his eyes

“I hate it when you bring that up, I really regret hitting you, and you remind me of it every minute of the day, I’m trying to forget about it”

“I’m probably not gonna let you forget about it, just saying, you can hope all you want but I’m not going to”

“How sweet”

Lance smiled.

“I know, I get told that all the time”

“You should be glad I love you, you idiot”

Lance felt his breath hitch. It wasn’t the first time Keith had said it, he said it in the summer, anytime they were about to get off the phone, just randomly on the phone, and any other time he found it fitting to say I love you. Lance had never said it back. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Keith, Lance was pretty sure he did, it was just a big word to say.

He opted to just giggle instead of answer.

“If that makes you uncomfortable you should have just told me”

“It doesn’t, you’ve said it too many times for it to make me uncomfortable, I didn’t hate it when you said it the first time, and I don’t hate it now”

“Good”

The waiter sat the check in front of Keith, he opened the book and took out his wallet. The book with his card in it sat on the edge of the table. He looked back at Lance when he was done.

“I’ve never been uncomfortable around you, confused, yeah, uncomfortable, no”

“Tell me if you ever are”

Keith stood and put on his coat. Lance followed, he finished the rest of his drink before putting on his coat.

“I doubt I’ll ever be uncomfortable around you Keith”

Keith smiled as he was handed back his card, he put it back in his wallet, and opened the door for Lance.

It was still snowing outside.

They walked hand in hand back to the apartment. Lance still struggled to keep up with the busy sidewalks, even though they were less crowded than when they walked there the first time.

“Why are there still so many people out”

“It’s the city that never sleeps, there always people on the streets, even at three in the morning something is happening on the streets”

Lance smiled at that. New York looked pretty at night, it was really lit up, Lance had never seen some many lights in one place before, living in the country you don’t get to see things like this.

“It’s pretty”

Keith laughed, fog formed in front of him. 

“I guess, looses it’s prettiness after you’ve lived here for a while, if I look hard enough I guess it’s pretty”

“I’ve never really been around a city, it’s different than everything I’m used to, I live on a farm Keith”

“America smells worse than your farm”

Lance rolled his eyes. his hand was warm in Keith’s.

“Yes, America smells worse than my farm, that says quite a bit about America”

Lance held the door open for him at his apartment. Jeremy glared at them on their way in, Lance waved, he rolled his eyes. Keith tugged on his hand a little harder then he hand when dragging him through the streets. They stopped in front of the elevator. Keith pushed the up button.

“He hates us enough Lance, just leave him alone”

“I was just being friendly, god damn”

They stepped in and Keith pressed the button to go to the floor that his room was on. 

“You being here isn’t going to make him like us anymore, it’s nice of you, but seriously he hates us a lot, we’ve been stuck with the fucker for years”

The elevator pinged and they got off. Keith unlocked the door to their apartment. They could hear yelling from inside.

“That doesn’t even fucking look like Sean, why are you all so stupid”

“Angelica, what are you doing”

Lance scoffed as they walked in the door. He hung his coat on the hooks by the door.

“Are you guys watching Nanoarrow, I hate Koby, he’s an asshole to everyone, and that looks nothing like Sean, they’re just fucking stupid, Max knows Sean better than anyone and he still thinks that’s Sean, like are you serious”

Lance leaned on the back of the couch and watched as “Sean” yelled at Laurence for doing what he was supposed to, of course Koby sided with Sean.

Shiro looked at him from over the couch.

“Angelica pisses me off, I wished she would get her shit together and do the right thing, and Lazarus is fake as fuck too, Angelica is stupid to trust him, and I swear if they talk shit about Laurence one more time I’m coming through the screen and beating someone’s ass”

Lance shook his head.

“The ending is disappointing as hell by the way, that’s all I’m gonna say about it, but good luck finishing it, the last season is frustrating to watch”

Shiro glanced up at Lance and sighed.

“Is Sean dead”

“No, Sean doesn’t die, he’s fine”

Shiro nodded and turned his head back to the tv, his chin rested in his hands. Everyone else’s attention was on the screen. Keith gagged at the TV and yawned.

“I hate this show so much, I hope you hate the ending, it’s nine thirty, damn, I’m headed to my room by the way, you can come if you want to Lance”

Lance went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. Hunk looked at him from the living room.

“Did you enjoy your date”

Lance smiled, he could feel his cheeks warm up.

“Yeah, it was really nice”

“That’s good to hear, what is she doing”

Lance looked at the TV screen, Lazarus was kissing Angelica, everyone made sounds of confusion and disbelief, they didn’t have to worry about it, Lazarus would be dead soon anyway.

“Ah Nanoarrow, seriously”

Lance headed towards Keith’s bedroom, glass in hand.

“Good luck finishing it, the bear switch is fucking stupid, and I blame it on Angelica, she could have gotten the red bear, but no, he didn’t like her, whatever Angelica”

He opened Keith’s bedroom door, Keith was already in sweatpants and was sprawled out on his bed. His bare back was visibly to Lance.

“Are you already asleep”

A muffled “no”, came from Keith, he turned and looked at Lance.

“Almost”

Lance changed into pajamas, and jumped onto Keith's bed. He sprung back up with impact. Lance threw his arms around Keith's shoulders. Keith flipped so that Lance could snuggle into his chest. Keith reached over and grabbed the TV remote, he put on Criminal Minds.

“You sleep with the TV on, you aren’t even gonna watch it Keith”

“If you can’t fall asleep then turn it off, I’m fucking falling asleep, I’m exhausted, good night Lance, see you in the morning”

Lance laughed and snuggled farther into Keith’s chest, he was warm. A yawn fell from his lips, before he knew it he was asleep with a smile on his face.

——————————————————

Lance woke up alone and cold. He groaned and slid his legs off of the bed. His bare feet touched the cold hardwood floor. He stepped out of the room and saw Keith cooking in the kitchen. He hummed a tune Lance didn't know.

Lance slid his arms around Keith’s torso and placed his forehead on Keith’s neck, he could feel Keith chuckle.

“Why good morning sleepy head, did you sleep well”

Lance hummed and nodded his head. Keith turned around and placed a kiss on his forehead.

“That’s good, I’m making waffles, do you want some”

Lance leaned back a bit and yawned.

“Yeah, I’ma make the coffee”

Lance went and grabbed coffee beans from their cupboard. He started making coffee the way his mom had always made it. He made sure it was full of love also.

Lance watched Keith cook breakfast for them as the coffee heated up. He grabbed two cup and poured coffee into them and Keith put waffles and bacon on two plates. He walked towards the balcony and motioned for Lance to follow.

The balcony was closed off and heated. Damn their apartment was fucking nice. Lance yawned again as he sat down, Keith sat his plate down in front of him.

“You snore in your sleep by the way”

Keith’s hair was a mess. Lance tried to calm it down by running his fingers through it, that didn’t help.

“I’ve been told before, sorry I didn’t tell you”

“It’s fine”

Keith looked at him so softly, his eyes looked over Lance’s face.

“I love you”

Lance’s heart swelled. Lance smiled at him, he could feel the eye boogers that were one his eyes when he squinted his eyes. Lance sighed. He’s lucky, doesn’t know how someone like Keith could love him out of all people. He felt special, he really did.

“I love you too, Keith”

Lance laid his head on Keith’s shoulder. They watched as the sun rose slowly, they ate their breakfast without talking. A small smile never left Lance’s face. 

Lance had never felt more at home while home was so far away.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s a wrap. I’m so sad that it’s over, I don’t usually finish most of the stuff I start and this is an exception. I’m really glad it is. Even though I really like the story and I’m proud of it, there are still things I would change. Lance and Keith should have “hated” each other longer, green cabin should have been more involved in the story, I should have mentioned Kosmo more, and I always forgot about Coran. Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head right now, but those are major things I think I could have done better on. It’s crazy that it’s over, I’m really glad that this story was my first ever finished fanfic, and that it will always have to place in my heart as the first ever finished fic, and it definitely won’t be my last. Thank you if you’ve read this far, I would have never continue this if no one read this but here I am at the end. I have another story in mind, it’s Nanoarrow, or the Voltron knockoff from one of the earlier chapters. That’s probably gonna take a while but yeah, I plan to start writing that sometime now that this is done. That’s all I have to say. For the last time, thank you for reading!!


End file.
